A class action law suit has been filed against Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix on behalf of 35,000 fans who were ejected from the circuit on Friday ahead of the second practice session.

The law suit, which alleges "breach of contract, negligence, and deceptive trade practices", has been filed by Dimopoulos Law Firm and co-counsel JK Legal & Consulting names F1's owners Liberty Media Corporation, which is also the event's promoter, DBA Formula One Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix and TAB Contractors Inc. as defendants.

"There are a number of issues with that," Steve Dimopoulos told Reuters in reaction to talk of compensation for those fans. "Clearly that is not a refund that is sufficient," he added, referring to the $200 merchandise voucher offered to those fans who only had tickets for the opening day.

"A lot of fans probably don't even want that; they want their money back. "There are also peripheral issues of what about the people that came in from out of town and paid for substantial airfare and hotels.

"We will vindicate the rights of the fans that travelled great distances and paid small fortunes to attend, but were deprived of the experience."

The opening session was abandoned after just nine minutes when two cars suffered major damage as a result of a loose drain cover.

While the second session was meant to get underway at 12:00 it eventually began at 02:30.

However, due to the fact that the various safety, security, transport and hospitality staff's shifts were at an end by this time, those fans who had patiently waited for the second session were asked to leave.

In a joint statement issued late last night, sued by F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali and Renee Wilm, CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, sought to explain the need to eject the fans from their seats in the minutes before the session, though without even a hint of contrition.

Indeed, in a move hardly likely to endear the fans, the statement declared "it happens".

"F1 and/or its contractors and safety organisations had a duty to inspect the track to make sure that it was safe for use by the racers and was race-ready for the 'practice run' event," notes the action, adding it had "failed to detect the flaws and/or poor installation of the subject manhole cover sealed by TAB and failed to ensure that the track was race-ready for the 'practice run' event.

"As of the time of this complaint, none of the attendees and/or invitees who purchased the tickets to the 'practice run' event, and were deprived of the opportunity to attend the same through no fault of their own, have received and/or were offered any refunds for their tickets," it continues.

"In addition, the plaintiffs claim damages for mental anguish in an amount to be determined by the jury that is fair and reasonable in consideration of the wilful, reckless, and intentional conduct of the defendant."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by elsiebc, 22/11/2023 15:45

"@Chester The next thing you buy today, be it a hot dog, a new car, or anything in between, just give the guy your money. Don't take the item. Just go home. After all, you could afford it..."

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2. Posted by elsiebc, 22/11/2023 15:40

"@Dirt I'm sure every last security and transportation detail in Las Vegas was not engaged by Liberty that night. If those that you hired can't fulfill your needs, you hire additional resources. "

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3. Posted by The Canadian, 20/11/2023 20:16

"Chester, all fans are prima donas lol...Weirdly enough, I am reminded of when the Italians and French were so incensed that Lance Armstrong was cheating at cycling...They just "knew it". What they didn't say was it was because he was beating their best cheaters.... Anyway, i think we fans are all 'special' in our own ways lol."

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4. Posted by The Canadian, 20/11/2023 20:12

"U.S. Legal system. Must be messed up if you think that being inconvenienced means you should somehow get paid...
"

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5. Posted by Chester, 20/11/2023 15:41

"This is the state of the US legal system. Sad. I went to the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis where only six cars raced. We left the track with a promise of nothing. Later we got free tickets to the next F1 Indy race.

I didn't run to my lawyer. And in Las Vegas, we are talking FP2. If you are well-off enough to buy the ticket, take your $200 merchandise credit and sit down and shut up.

US fans are such prima donnas.
"

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6. Posted by kenji, 19/11/2023 10:52

"The affected fans should've simply refused to budge from their seats...what would the officials have done then? Forcibly eject thousands of fans? I somehow don't think so. Where was 'groupthink' when needed?."

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7. Posted by Dirt, 19/11/2023 3:24

"Apparently it wasn't as easy as just paying overtime. Other articles have suggested there were legal work limits for security and transportation personnel that drove the decision to send the fans home. Not trying to defend F1 for how they failed to anticipate all potential problems, just highlighting local laws played a part in preventing a simple shift extension."

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8. Posted by elsiebc, 19/11/2023 3:13

"They should simply have negotiated with the various security, hospitality, etc. staff. Pay some overtime, reduce services, engage other sources, but foremost fulfill your responsibility."

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9. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 19/11/2023 2:34

"Wow, that was quick, the lawyers must have had their DRS open when filling this suit. Vegas was a rush job for the payday, maybe this will humble F1 as they've been up their own ****s for awhile now. They should pay for their greed and hubris."

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10. Posted by The Hubris Of Man, 19/11/2023 1:25

"The efforts to reimburse the fans who were not allowed to be present for P2 after paying for seats is weak at best. I don't care if they were one day or all weekend ticket holders. They paid to see F1 cars on track and a $200 merchandise voucher is just wrong. I am so glad that I didn't waste my money to go to the Las Vegas GP. Bernie Eccelstone was big on having a Vegas GP (and New York City as well). For as big of a twit he was/is, I can't believe that he'd cocked it up as bad as this."

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11. Posted by ian_w, 19/11/2023 0:06

""It happens ..."

Evidently it was not the only "show" postponed this weekend ...
"Taylor Swift Postpones [Saturday] Rio Concert Due to ‘Extreme Temperatures’"
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-postpones-rio-concert-extreme-temperatures-1234886490/
following the death of a fan during the Friday show.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-devastated-fan-dies-eras-tour-brazil-1234886359/

And a few months ago,
"Drake concert at Vancouver's Rogers Arena postponed due to equipment issue"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/drake-concert-postponed-vancouver-1.6950289

And let's not forget,
"Emilia Romagna GP: Imola race cancelled amid heavy flooding in northern Italy"
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12882749/emilia-romagna-gp-imola-race-will-not-proceed-amid-heavy-flooding-in-northern-italy

Obviously there is no opportunity to reschedule Practice to another day, so they did the best logistically they could.

Especially on the very first day of an inaugural event, you know things are going to go wrong, but DO NOT aggravate the situation by pissing off and dismissing your paying customers with offers of free tchotchke.

Imagine the press if they simply came out Friday and said, "While this was beyond our control, we apologize and will refund all customers the purchase price of the day's ticket for GA and Grandstand titleholders" ? Maybe even offer a discount on next year's Practice session on top !

Everyone would have still been upset, but probably understanding. In turn the world's most expensive sport would have shown it understands it let "the fans down", but walked away with a a lot of goodwill. And in the grand scheme of things, the loss of gate revenue for a practice day is small. Heck, some venues are virtually empty on practice day!

Being hosted in the United States, someone would still file a class-action suit claiming the organizers should have prepared better, anticipated more etc., but it would be a much harder case to win having provided sympathetic recompense. And nobody would be taking about a valve cover come Monday (except Ferrari)."

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12. Posted by dejan, 18/11/2023 23:23

"Totally expected. This type of lawsuits are one of the reasons that US companies try to behave - hopefully the tickets didn't have an arbitration clause so that the FIA will feel at least some of the pain that the fans who got ejected experienced."

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13. Posted by KKK, 18/11/2023 22:10

"Brilliant!"

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F1 facing class action law suit

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