A different story [0] where an oil tanker rescued a NASA cargo ship at sea. After the rescue, years long legal battle where the company tried to collect $5 million. As I recall, NASA lacked the authority to cut that size of check and the overseeing body fought to deny payment.
Skip faced a difficult decision. A fully loaded, 688-foot oil tanker is hardly anyone's first choice of a rescue vessel. It is as maneuverable as a school bus on ice. And the Cherry Valley was carrying ten million gallons of heavy fuel oil. A rescue attempt would put them in dangerously shallow water. One wrong move, and they would have an ecological disaster on the order of the Exxon Valdez.
… At the center of it all, an impossible question: How do you put a price tag on doing the right thing?
It feels like the smallest amount you can sue a government agency for and come away with anything, really. Very reasonable for having something smash through your house that could have killed you/your family.
If I remember this correctly, NASA is allowed to settle only very tiny damage claims on their own. Above a few thousand dollars they are required to defer to the Attorney General, whose office settles the larger claims against federal agencies.
If space debris hit my home, I think I'd build an exhibit around it, put it up on Google Maps, and charge admission. Real space junk! You can touch it!
