A class action lawsuit has been filed against the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix in relation to fans being forced to leave Thursday’s practice session after an hourslong delay.
Dimopoulos Law Firm and co-counsel JK Legal & Consulting filed the suit Friday in Nevada District Court on behalf of 35,000 fans who purchased tickets to Thursday’s practice run, the legal firms announced Saturday.
Just nine minutes after Thursday’s’s practice session began, a water valve cover came loose and damaged multiple F1 drivers’ vehicles. That led to a 2 ½ hour delay, with a 90-minute second practice session beginning at 2:30 a.m. Friday.
Fans were forced by police and security officers to leave at 1:30 a.m. Friday and weren’t able to watch the session.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are Liberty Media Corporation, doing business as Formula One Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix and TAB Contractors, Inc. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, negligence and deceptive trade practices against the defendants.
“We will vindicate the rights of the fans that traveled great distances and paid small fortunes to attend, but were deprived of the experience,” Dimopoulos Law Firm owner and lead attorney Steve Dimopoulos said in a statement.
I hear the phrase “class action lawsuit” mentioned on the internet all the time, does it actually mean anything at this early point or is it just some chancers trying their luck? Basically is there any point in paying this story any attention unless it goes to court?
It is just the concept of the proceeding and one of the things, where i consider the US justice system to be better than many European systems. It is a “class action”, because there is many people, where both the claim and the conditions are the same. So it makes sense to make one suit for everyone instead of an individual suit every time, as the decision should be the same among all suits.
It does not mean, that it is more severe or not. If there wouldn’t be class action, imagine the headline “35.000 civil suits opened against F1 Las Vegas Grand prix.”
Thanks! I am aware of the concept and it does seem like a useful tool, but my point was more: is the opening of the lawsuit actually news, or do they usually go nowhere? Or in other words should we wait until it actually gets to court before reporting on it?
Of course it should be reported now. There is people who were affected and need to know about the lawsuit, so they can decide to join in on it. It needs to be in public attention, so that both sides are pressured to play fairly, in particular the F1, since companies in the US love to play ressource games at court.
You need to discover its existence yourself and manually join it? Do the legal people not make an effort to find everyone they’re supposed to be representing?
How would they know that you have been there that day and how to contact you? The F1 surely wont hand out the list of qll customers who purchased a ticket and i am not sure if it would be even legal. In my country it wouldnt be legal for sure.
In a class action lawsuit, identifying everyone who bought tickets is part of discovery. F1 will have to provide a list and it is up to the plaintiff to reach out to those people and get them to sign on. Even if someone doesn’t participate, they’re still entitled to any damages. It’s pretty common to get a $20 check for a service you may have used a decade ago that settled a class action lawsuit, even if you never heard of it before. I just got one from Zoom for anti-competitive practices during COVID.
No idea, I guess publicising it makes sense