Liability

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Carolyn Pollock, widowed
when Bill Pollock, DVM, of
Kingsville, Texas, died on October
30, 1991 after suffering for two weeks
from the herpes B virus, was on May
19 awarded $515,000 in settlement of
a lawsuit alleging that the Texas
Primate Center insufficiently warned
Bill Pollock of the risks of working
with macaques and inadequately
responded when he fell ill. Her juvenile
daughter, Elizabeth Grace
Pollock, born on January 1, 1992,
received $26,780 in trust, The Texas
Primate Center supplies nonhuman primates
to research institutions. Codefendants
included Spohn Health
System Inc., Spohn Kleberg
Hospital, Hazleton Laboratories,
Metpath Inc., and Corning Lab
Services, as well as four individuals.

English/Russian translator
Yelena Aleynikov, head-butted backstage
by an elephant who was to
appear on a 1994 episode of the
Live––With Regis and Kathie Lee
show, on June 10 accepted $1.65 million
in settlement of a lawsuit against
A B C – T V, the Greater Moscow
Circus, and Wessex Productions, a
booking agent. Aleynikov suffered a
skull fracture, punctured lung, broken
ribs, facial injuries, and claimed she
lost her ability to concentrate on her
work after the incident.
The city council in St. Paul,
M i n n e s o t a, on June 10 reportedly
voted without comment to pay J u d y
B r o w n of South Sioux City,
Nebraska, $16,000 compensation for
back injuries allegedly suffered when a
llama led by a Como Zoo d o c e n t
escaped and knocked her down at a
1996 Renaissance Festival in
Shakopee. The llama belonged not to
the zoo, but to another docent. St.
Paul was sued because the docents, as
zoo volunteers, were covered for such
accidents by the city’s liability policy.
The Como Zoo subequently disbanded
its docent group and discontinued most
off-site educational programs.