When Tigers Attack

This paper discusses strategies for personal injury lawyers and other litigators to use in motions to strike jury notices in complex litigation. Sources include the Cowles v African Lion Safari case in which the plaintiff suffered catastrophic personal injuries in a tiger attack.

Bengal Tigers are ferocious carnivores. They typically weigh 250 kilograms and stretch (from head to tail) to about 3 metres in length. In the wild, they hunt medium and large sized animals such as wild boar, deer and water buffalo, generally overpowering their prey by either severing the spinal cord or applying a suffocation bite.

On a warm spring day in April 1996, our client, Jennifer Cowles, was in the passenger seat of a Honda Prelude, which her boyfriend David Balac was driving at a leisurely pace through the African Lion Safari (ALS), just outside of Hamilton.

Suddenly and without any warning, Paca, a female Bengal Tiger, attacked the small car. Paca was soon joined by two more tigers which, between them, severely mauled Jennifer and David.

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