Yesterday, I wrote my blog entry and then headed to court.
I flipped on CNN in the car and heard an anchor say the the Plaintiff in the Stamford chimp attack case is suing for 50 million dollars! Evidently the good folks at CNN don’t read A Connecticut Law Blog. If they did, they would know that nobody has sued anybody at this point!
What the Plaintiff’s are doing at this point is seeking to attach 50 million dollars of the Defendant’s assets which is different from suing the Defendant for 50 million dollars. An attachment simply secures assets that are necessary to satisfy the plaintiff’s judgment in the event a plaintiff prevails at trial.
On the PJR application, the Plaintiff certifies that there is probable cause that a judgment may enter in the amount the Plaintiff is seeking to attach. Probable cause is a low standard and 50 million dollars is a high number.
A quick google search reveals that the highest jury verdict in State history is 38.5 million dollars.
At the PJR hearing the Defendant will certainly argue that the amount of the attachment if any should be much less than 50 million dollars.
Of course, if the Defendant doesn’t have 50 million dollars worth of assets than a PJR being granted in the amount of 50 million dollars isn’t really worth the paper its printed on.
I’ll keep on top of this case.