The owner of a small Texas trucking company, whose 18-wheeler was used without permission by federal agents in a botched Zetas Cartel sting that left the driver dead, wants the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case.

Craig Patty, the owner, filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government seeking up to $6.4 million in damages over the November 2011 incident, which played out in broad daylight in northwest Houston.

An appeals court in New Orleans dismissed the suit in March and Patty has appealed that decision to the nation's highest court, asking that the suit be reinstated.

"The facts of this case are straight out of a Hollywood movie, and yet are completely true and undisputed," Houston lawyer Andy Vickery states in recent petition to the court.

Patty has said he wants to be compensated for the damage to his truck and his business, but also wants to shed light on the case by bringing the facts out publicly.

Many of the government's motions filed in the case were kept under seal in order to protect the secrecy of Drug Enforcement Administration operations. In its defense, however, the government has contended it needs discretion when it comes to fighting crime, and that Patty's truck was an important tool in the investigation.

The truck was carrying a load of marijuana from the Texas-Mexico border to Houston, and was being shadowed by numerous law-enforcement officers. During the trip, however, it was run off the road and attacked by gangsters in three sport-utility vehicles.

The truck's driver, Lawrence Chapa, who was secretly working for the DEA was shot and killed.

During the confusion, a plainclothes Houston police officer shot and wounded a plainclothes Harris County sheriff's deputy.

Four men were convicted in Chapa's death. The last was Eric DeLuna, who had been charged with capital murder, but leaded guilty to a lesser charge and got 30 years in state court.

Patty's lawyers contend the DEA has refused to pay for damages as well as protect him and his family from retaliation by the Zetas Cartel, one of the most violent of Mexico's underworld drug organizations.

"Patty sought compensation from the DEA for the damage to his truck and company and for police protection against cartel retaliation," notes court papers recently sent to the Supreme Court for consideration. "He feared that the cartel might come after him on learning that the truck belonged to his company.

Patty's insurance refused to pay for repairs, saying that the truck was used in the commission of a crime, even though Patty did not know that his driver was also secretly working for the DEA while on company time and using the company truck.

The DEA's plan involved having Chapa drive the load of Zetas marijuana from the border to the Houston area, and that when it was delivered, federal agents and police would sweep in and make arrests.

The truck was attacked before it could reach its destination.