Zoo: Boy's mauling death is mom's fault (she lifted him to railing for better look at wild dogs) [View all]
The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium says the mother of a 2-year-old boy who was fatally mauled when he fell into a wild African dogs exhibit is to blame for her son's death and shouldn't be allowed to sue.
The zoo's attorneys made that argument in a response filed this week to the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Jason and Elizabeth Derkosh, whose son, Maddox, died Nov. 4 after falling over a 4-foot-tall wooden railing into the exhibit when his mother lifted him up to get a better look.
"The injuries and damages sustained by Maddox Derkosh, including Maddox Derkosh's death, were caused solely by the carelessness, negligence, and/or recklessness of Elizabeth Derkosh," the zoo's attorney wrote Monday in the court filing. She "knew or should have known he could fall into the exhibit" and failed "to maintain a proper grasp of Maddox Derkosh after lifting him over the railing."
The parents' attorney, Robert Mongeluzzi, said the zoo "failed miserably in their solemn responsibility to prevent the attack" and has "now shamelessly attacked Maddox's grieving mother. We look forward to exposing their reckless conduct, in discovery, and at trial."
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Pittsburgh-Zoo-Boy-s-mauling-death-is-mom-s-fault-4808165.php
An attorney representing the parents of Maddox Derkosh said Tuesday that the little boy had an interaction with a monkey there, in which he placed his hands up on the glass, and the animal approached the glass from the other side and put its hands up against the boy's.
That, attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said, is likely the reason why Maddox lurched out of his mother's arms and through an opening in the display of the African painted dogs on Nov. 4.
"She did not take her son and put him on the railing and stand him there," Mr. Mongeluzzi said. "She was picking him up when he lurched forward and fell from her grasp.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/court-wont-cut-claims-in-wrongful-death-case-at-pittsburgh-zoo-698298/#ixzz2ehsonzSN
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