ALBANY HERALD (Georgia) 29 March 08 Chehaw faces possible lawsuit over snakebite (Susan McCord)

Albany: The Parks at Chehaw has snakes — diamondback rattlers, canebrake rattlers, copperheads, water moccasins — confined behind glass “in our reptile house,” Chehaw Executive Director Doug Porter said.

And then they have snakes. The more than 700 acres of public land on the banks of Lake Chehaw has its natural share of wildlife, including snakes, Porter said.

“It is a natural area out here; we do have snakes on the property. We have a lot of wild animals,” he said.

Last October, a copperhead allegedly bit park patron Esteban Bernal, causing him more than $19,066 in medical expenses, including a $17,528 bill from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, according to an ante litem notice filed Monday by Bernal’s attorney with Chehaw, Dougherty County and City of Albany officials.

The notice let the affected parties know they were facing a $1 million lawsuit from Bernal, for his injuries, and for the parties’ refusal to comply with a March 10 open records request.

The request included 15 categories of documents pertaining to the organization of Chehaw, records of the October snakebite and any other bites, park safety policies and records of snakes’ escapes from captivity at the park.

Nautilus Insurance Group, the park’s liability insurer, responded to Bernal’s open records request March 14, saying “we respectfully must decline you request at this time.

“Your request is more appropriately handled during discovery in the event this matter cannot be resolved and goes into litigation,” a letter from Nautilus said.

Denying the request “is clearly an intentional and malicious effort on the part of the named entities to thwart and prevent Mr. Bernal from rightfully obtaining evidence concerning his personal injury claim,” Hank Pittman stated in the March 24 ante litem notice.

Pittman, of Tifton, declined to comment. Bernal could not be reached.

The request, of the same type news organizations file to obtain documents and other records from public agencies, under Georgia law requires the agency to comply within 3 days or cite the specific exemption under the law that allows the records to be withheld.

Filing an open records request is an inexpensive, yet legal method of obtaining documents from public entities, Nathan Davis, attorney for the City of Albany said.

“A lot of plaintiff’s lawyers use that to get a hold of documents that will end up in court later,” Davis said.

The City of Albany appoints members to the board of directors that governs the Chehaw Park Authority, Davis said, but has little other involvement in park activities.

Porter said that its insurance company was handling the claim from Bernal, and had made the man an offer of around $40,000 for his expenses.

“The anti-venom is probably pretty expensive,” and typically obtained at the hospital, he said.

In fulfilling the records request, Porter said Chehaw was “delayed getting back to them.”

In the process, he found there were no records of snakes escaping from park exhibits, Porter said.

“We’ve sent them everything they’ve asked for that we’re aware of,” he said.

Porter said he recalled when the Oct. 6 incident took place.

“The gentleman was on one of the trails inside the zoo, walking...He reported himself (at) the gift shop claiming that one of the wild snakes on the property had bitten him.

“There were no witnesses,” Porter said.

Park officials don’t require visitors to sign any waiver regarding inadvertent contact with park life, but warns them with signs, he said.

“We have signs posted around the park that say something to the effect of ‘don’t mess with the wildlife, that’s all we do,” he said.

A copperhead is one of the smaller of the poisonous snakes, and its bite can be harmful, Porter said.
Chehaw faces possible lawsuit over snakebite

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