Bivens lawsuit¶
The Bivens lawsuit is the legal action Rudy Giuliani warns the task force to expect after the shootout at the Safe Environment Fund's fence in the woods near Radford, Virginia.
| Type | Lore / legal fallout |
| Aliases | fence incident |
| Parties | The agents (Webster, Andrew, Kurt, Huell) versus the Safe Environment Fund and its guards |
| Status | Expected; no suit is ever shown being filed or resolved |
| First appearance | Radford Horrors 02 (the incident); Radford Horrors 03 (the warning) |
The fence incident¶
In Radford Horrors 02 the team follows the missing agents' map toward a squiggle marked in the woods and finds an eight-foot chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire and wrapped in privacy material printed with the Safe Environment Fund logo and "No trespassers. Keep out." The team climbs over; Daniel Webster gets caught on the barbed wire and Andrew lifts him down. Armed guards arrive on ATVs and warn them off. Webster screams "FBI! Get on the ground!" and levels his shotgun, but his Manipulate Someone roll (a 5) fails. A guard tases him for 1 harm and his shotgun goes off wide. Kurt Larson fires a burst into the air. Andrew Howard shoots a guard through the leg for 2 harm; as the guard tumbles down the hill he shoots Andrew in the chest, and the bullet slows to a stop an inch from him. The other guards put down their weapons after their boss orders them to stand down over the radio (Radford Horrors 02).
Webster radios in for an ambulance, and lawyers for the property owners turn up. They insist the agents need a warrant, and Kurt and Webster answer that they have probable cause at an active crime scene where federal agents went missing. The lawyers follow the team with cameras to the scribble. Andre tells the table that, for the record, the agents are legally in the wrong, which Rita disputes on the grounds that evidence at an active crime scene may be destroyed (Radford Horrors 02).
The warning¶
While the team waits at the Radford ER, Webster takes a call from Giuliani, who asks about "the thing with the fence". Webster claims probable cause, saying the guards refused to listen, shot at them and one agent fired back and put a man in hospital. Giuliani tells him (Radford Horrors 03):
- a Bivens lawsuit, which lets the guards sue federal officers for damages over constitutional violations, is coming if the probable cause is disputed;
- the FBI is seeking a retroactive warrant to cover the search so it does not fall under the "poison fruit" provision;
- FBI counsel will decide whether the probable-cause claim can be defended in court;
- a formal reprimand is possible, though it would be a different story had they found the missing agents.
Giuliani asks whether the team wants to press charges against the guard who tased them. Webster sees the charges as leverage against a suit, and Zack wants them extended to the guards' employers. Giuliani says the guard has already been fired, and that the property owners' lawyers have mentioned that one agent carried a spear gun. Kurt, out of the earshot of the call, insists it was "sporting goods equipment". Giuliani adds that the guard claims he did not believe the FBI would carry a spear gun and that he has a hearing impairment, which might let him argue he did not know they were agents (Radford Horrors 03). See Kurt's spear gun.
Aftermath¶
In Radford Horrors 04 Andre mentions that Webster was reprimanded and told the president wants no more "cowboy shit" on the case. When Giuliani brings up the spear gun again, Webster brushes off the incident as an "unfriendly interaction with some locals" and Kurt rolls his eyes (Radford Horrors 04).