Government won't pay for Ferrari F50 wrecked by dumbasss FBI agent

[Richard Cranium]

By ED WHITE

Associated Press

DETROIT —
An FBI agent assigned to move a rare Ferrari wrecked it during a short drive in Kentucky, and its owner is now suing the U.S. Justice Department, which has refused to pay $750,000 for the car.

The Justice Department recently responded to the lawsuit by saying it's not liable for certain goods when they're in the hands of law enforcement. The government also has refused to release most documents related to the crash.

The Ferrari F50 was stolen in 2003 from a dealer in Rosemont, Pa., and discovered five years later. The FBI kept it in Lexington, Ky., as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

FBI agent Fred Kingston was to move the Ferrari from a garage in May 2009. Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Hamilton Thompson said Kingston invited him on a "short ride."

"Just a few seconds after we left the parking lot, we went around a curve and the rear of the car began sliding," Thompson said in an email released to Motors Insurance Co., the dealer's insurer.

"The agent tried to regain control but the car fishtailed and slid sideways up onto the curb. The vehicle came to rest against a row of bushes and a small tree," Thompson said.

He was not hurt, but Kingston needed a few stitches for a cut on his head.

Motors Insurance took ownership of the car after it paid the dealer for the theft. The company told the government that the 1995 Ferrari, one of only 50 in the U.S., suffered substantial damage in the Kentucky crash and is a "total loss."

"At heart, it is a race vehicle" and is not built like a typical car, truck or SUV, the insurer said in a claim for payment, partly explaining why it sought $750,000.

The Southfield, Mich.-based company filed a lawsuit in March after the Justice Department refused to pay. Motors Insurance has also filed a lawsuit to try to get records about the incident through the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The government has been secretive, saying most records are exempt. It only released Thompson's email.

"We don't really know what happened. We've asked for a lot of information," Motors Insurance attorney Richard Kraus said in an interview this week.

A judge has set a June 13 hearing in the case.




http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015105631_apusfbiwreckedferrari.html

[bull]

How can the government fund bank bailouts and pet pork projects if they're out there compensating private citizens for the ineptitude of federal employees?

[Rolling_Thunder]

wow -  so an FBI agent was joyriding an F50 and wrecked it...    nice...   

[AKcharger]

It's the car's fault, I mean they just go around a corner (at safe and resonable speeds I suspect) and it fishtails and goes out of control? sounds like a bad design!

[Mike DC]

I wonder what you have to do to a car so that $750,000 won't fix it. 

[bakerhillpins]

I wonder what you have to do to a car so that $750,000 won't fix it. 

Sliding sideways into the curb probably bent the crap out of the frame and smashed up the drive train which would mean that they would have to build the car from scratch all over again.

[ChgrSteve67]

How many people get to say the wrecked a $750k car and didn't have to pay for it.

[derailed]

Probably the last car he will wreck by the time the owner gets done with him if they don't pay for it.

[Mike DC]

Sliding sideways into the curb probably bent the crap out of the frame and smashed up the drive train which would mean that they would have to build the car from scratch all over again.

Still . . .

We're not talking about a car being crushed into a cube.  It was probably in mint condition before getting damaged in the wreck, and this was a wreck that didn't even kill the passengers.  And the repair shop could dump half a million dollars into the project before the math starts to look questionable.  You can do a helluva lot of work to a car for half a million.    

[bordin34]

The chassis is a carbon fiber tub.

[ChgrSteve67]

You can only sue the government if they let you.

In the end they will probably make the insurance company an offer and say take it or leave it.