It’s certainly not as easy as filing a lawsuit and going to trial.

Charla Nash, disfigured by her friend’s chimpanzee in 2009, is still hoping to have her day in court. But to do that, her lawyers first had to convince the state claims commissioner, J. Paul Vance Jr., that the state should allow her to sue. The state generally is immune to lawsuits, unless they are allowed by the claims commissioner.