Posted on 10/14/2011 1:27:43 PM PDT by Immerito
DETROIT A federal judge in Detroit has dismissed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the wreck of a $750,000 Ferrari driven by an FBI agent.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Somehow the rest of us will get to pay for it be it a law suit or higher insurance rates.
Seems like a violation of the 5th amendment protection of private property.
Actually, a car of this value would normally only be transported in a fully enclosed car transport by a fully ensured carrier.
so now the police can arrest anyone for “something” conficate a car or a house or boat, use it for fun and they have no liability.
How very sheriff of nottingham.
This will go to appeal and be overturned. There is no way the government can take proeprty then destroy it.
I wish I had the same confidence. The government already *has* taken property and destroyed it.
Right, for transporting, if the parties actually care about the value of the vehicle! lol But for a government entity, the typical transport would be flatbed, think lowest bidder, or government purchase card limits.
This is a subrogation case by a carrier. They generallly look for coverage, rather than chasing “dead wood.”
Keep in mind there is a separate Freedon of Information Act suit ongoing. The FBI is playing games with its documents, likely trying to hide some other malfeasance. The subrogating carrier may yet get a recovery from another carrier that covers the FBI, if it can show that the FBI was negligent in its supervision of the individual officers.
Unlikely the subrogating carrier will go in that direction. The individual agent's homeowners and personal auto polices likeley have business pursuits exclusions.
In most states, and certainly with the federal government, soverign immunity is statutory, with exceptions that are narrowly construed. It is impossible to govern without it.
That does not make them any less liable.
Their wages can be garnisheed.
There is certainly no reason not to prosecute them, and there is a moral imperative that requires that they be prosecuted.
I’m just telling you what the surrogating carrier will do. A wage garnishment for a $750,000 claim is not the way they will want to go. Taking a pound of flesh, especially from FBI agents, is not good business.
If the county prosecutor does not indict these people the owner of the car should let him know that his opponent in all elections will have his full support until he is removed from office.
This guy obviously has the means to make that threat stick and make it hurt.
We as a people can not let this kind of behavior go on with our LEOs.
The owner of the vehicle gave up title to his insurance carrier, who paid the value of the vehicle to the owner, while the vehicle was lost and in the hands of the thief. The insurance carrier owned the vehicle when the FBI agents crashed it so badly it was a total loss.
If there is anyone less likely win an election than a car insurance company, please let me know who that is ...
That is not in the article. Are you sure of this?
Insurance companies will usually stall for some time on the chance that the police will recover the car.
if the car was recovered before they settled the company would not have paid for the car and the owner would have had to wait until the car was released from evidence hold.
From the official report of the case:
On September 16, 2003, a 1995 Ferrari F50 (the vehicle) was stolen from a Ferrari dealership, Algar Ferrari, in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. The dealer was the insured under a policy issued by MIC. MIC paid the claim in the amount of $625,000 and assumed ownership of the vehicle. Nearly five years later, in August of 2008, a Kentucky law enforcement unit and partner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recovered the vehicle in Lexington, Kentucky.
Motors Ins. Corp. v. U.S. 2011 WL 4506103, 1 (E.D.Mich.) (E.D.Mich.,2011)
Thanks
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