Or, to quote the attorney for the plaintiff:
A federally deputized corporal from the Houston Police Department decides to pay your small company’s driver to drive your truck to the Mexican border, load it up with illegal drugs, and try to catch some bad guys. He knows that the driver is lying to “the owner” – although he doesn’t know your name or identity and doesn’t bother to find out. The bad guys outwit the cops. Your company’s driver is killed. Your truck is riddled with bullet holes.
Query: is our federal government liable to pay for the damages to you and your property?
Answer: Nope.
Yeah, you'd think that the Fourth Amendment protection against "unreasonable searches and seizures" or the Fifth Amendment protection against "private property be[ing] taken for public use, without just compensation" would apply here. You'd be, apparently, wrong.
Who Pays When The DEA Destroys Your Vehicle And Kills Your Employee During A Botched Sting? Hint: Not The DEA | Techdirt
The DEA likes to borrow stuff. It’s just not very good about returning borrowed items in the same shape it got them.Like a woman’s Facebook account.
Or a businessman’s semi truck.
And his employee’s life.
Craig Patty…
