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Between the Lines - S.F. Zoo tiger mauling lawsuit has claws
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About two weeks ago, attorneys for Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court naming The City, the San Francisco Zoological Society and Sam Singer as defendants. In it, the brothers claim the injuries they suffered last Christmas Day when Tatiana the tiger escaped from her zoo enclosure and attacked them were the result of negligence by The City and the society. They also claim Singer, the post-incident spokesman for the society, is guilty of defamation because he made false statements about the brothers that damaged their reputations.
The City’s official stance so far is that the Dhaliwals should just sue the society, but I don’t think the defense to this case will be so simple. State law provides that a public entity is liable for a foreseeable injury caused by a dangerous condition on its property that the public entity knew about and had sufficient time prior to the injury to fix. Because The City owns the property and animals at the zoo, the wall has been the same height since at least 1993, and a reasonable inspection would have uncovered the fact that the wall at the tiger grotto was too short, it doesn’t look like The City is off the hook.
Do you know who will be off the hook? Sam Singer. To prove defamation in California, you have to show that the speaker knew (or should have known) that what he was communicating was false, which is seriously hard to do. Plus, where the subject is a matter of “public concern,” the plaintiff has the burden to prove that the statements at issue were untrue. Given all the conflicting eyewitness accounts right after the incident, don’t count on the Dhaliwal brothers to be able to prove that anyone should have known what to believe.
--Melissa
Resources:
Dhaliwals' initial complaint against The City: Download Initial Complaint
The City's pithy response: Download Denial of Claim
California Government Code sec. 835
Defamation Jury Instructions (these show you the elements of a claim): Download Defamation Jury Instructions
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