One of the car’s owners, Andy House, claimed that the November 2009 wreck was caused by a pelican. House said he was fumbling for his cell phone and looked up to see the bird in front of his car. That caused him to lose control and drive off I-45 into Galveston Bay south of Houston. The only problem is that House didn’t know that a car enthusiast was shooting video of his Bugatti at the time. There is no pelican visible in the video.
The car’s insurer also claims House ran the car engine for 15 minutes after hitting the water, damaging the 1,000 horsepower engine. Galveston Bay is a saltwater estuary.
House and investor Lloyd Gillespie, both from East Texas, bought the car for $1.2 million. They took out an insurance policy on the car for $2.2 million, twice its value.
Philadelphia Indemnity filed a lawsuit against Andy House, a car dealer from Lufkin, and the car’s financier, Lloyd Gillespie, saying the Nov. 11, 2009, wreck in La Marque was the result of intentional and fraudulent acts to collect twice the vehicle’s value.
House and Gillespie, in court filings, denied the insurance company’s allegations. House filed a counter claim accusing the insurance company of unfair settlement practices, among other things.
The insurance company’s lawsuit, filed June 18, 2010, in Galveston’s U.S. District Court, claims House paid $1.05 million for the 2006 Bugatti, far less than the $2.2 million insurance policy.
The French-built Bugatti Veyron is one of the fastest production cars ever made. It’s a 1,000 horsepower fire-breather and is capable of speeds up to 250mph. There were only 300 Bugatti Veyron’s produced. Needless to say, this was a rare and very valuable car.
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