The San Francisco Zoo agreed Thursday to pay $900,000 to two brothers who survived the fatal attack by an escaped tiger on Christmas Day 2007, sources familiar with the case told The Chronicle.It's hard to know who was the dumber party here: the "victims" who got drunk and started hassling the tiger (which was shot after she killed the Dhaliwal's luckless buddy), or the city Zoo which built a tiger cage that did not actually keep the tiger caged. The city had a lot of liability here - if you are the keeper of a wild animal, it's pretty much strict liability if that animal hurts anyone. The city actually got off lucky, given the "victims'" many determined acts of stupidity.
The agreement with Kulbir, 25, and Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 20, resolves claims the brothers brought in U.S. District Court against the city, zoo and Sam Singer, a crisis public relations consultant the zoo hired after the attack, one source said.
A lawsuit like this always has its excesses and here's this one's: one of the brothers brought a civil rights claim for the impoundment of his car:
Kulbir Dhaliwal also argued his federal civil rights were violated because he was deprived the use of his BMW M3, the car the three took to the zoo. Police impounded the car during their investigation but didn't seek a court order to search it until they had had the car for about two weeks, according to the lawsuit.
Great, a rich kid with an M3 who plays at being a "thug" is now walking around with $450,000. Where are the "No Justice. No Peace" people when you need them?
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