Agreement of Assets Frozen, Sandra Herold

STAMFORD -- Attorneys in a lawsuit following a February chimpanzee attack may be close to an agreement on whether to freeze some of the assets of the chimpanzee's owner, one of the attorneys said Tuesday.

At a hearing scheduled for Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., the attorneys will present an agreement they reached, which the court would have to approve, said Charles Willinger, an attorney for the attack victim, 55-year-old Charla Nash.

Nash's attorneys moved in March to prevent the chimpanzee's owner, Sandra Herold, from selling or otherwise getting rid of up to $50 million in assets in case damages are later awarded in the lawsuit.

At a court hearing last month, attorneys involved in the case said they would negotiate over whether a certain amount of assets could be frozen, known as an attachment, short of a and court ruling.

Willinger said Tuesday a possible agreement was close. He did not provide further details.

Nash was attacked by the chimpanzee Feb. 16 after Herold, her employer and friend, called her for help in getting the pet back into the house after he got out. The pet, called Travis, later was shot and killed by police.

Doctors have said Nash lost her hands, nose and lips and is blind from the attack. Nash also sustained a brain injury, but she has made improvement at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where she is being treated, doctors have said.

Nash's twin brother, Michael Nash, was appointed her conservator in Probate

Court in Stamford in February. Willinger has said damages that may be awarded in the suit would go to pay for Nash's medical expenses and the care of her 17-year-old daughter.

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