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 am curious, how many fans were still there at 1:30? At one point the tv presenting showed people being asked to leave and there wasn’t a stack of people left several hours after p1 was cancelled. Made me wonder whether if they were incapable of keeping all stadiums staffed, could they have funnelled the remaining people, if not too many, to the main grandstand (or say two) and closed all the others.
I do feel for the people but, especially those that may have only had tickets to day 1. Even those with 3 days missed out, wasted a day off work, etc, as a result.
It happens though…Spa 2021 being another similar situation where the crowd wasn’t necessarily ejected, but they didn’t see what they’d come for either.