LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Several Formula One fans who were kicked out of the fan zone Thursday accuse organizers of breach of contract and negligence after a track incident delayed the practice run for hours.
The Las Vegas law firm Dimopoulous filed the lawsuit on behalf of five people, which included four Clark County residents and one person from Arizona, who say they have yet to be given a refund despite spending hundreds of dollars for a ticket.
The lawsuit lists the defendants as Liberty Media Corporation, doing business as Formula One Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix, and TAB Contractors.
In court documents, Dimopoulos accuses TAB Contractors of “installing the subject failed manhole cover and concrete work sealing the manhole cover,” which was completed only days before the “practice run” event. It stated the “track was not in the race-ready condition at the time of the event.”
TAB reportedly performed the concrete work on the Las Vegas track.
That practice run was canceled Thursday after Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz hit a water valve cover causing damage to his car.
It also led to a five-hour delay for the second practice round, which didn’t start until 2:30 a.m. on Friday.
Representatives for Formula One previously stated they made the decision to remove fans one hour before it started.
8 News Now spoke to fans who said they were asked to leave.
“Yeah, they chased everybody out of there, so I didn’t bother going back,” Todd LePique of Orlando said.
“It started off as, ‘well it would be midnight.’ And then midnight gets pushed back, and we didn’t know when it was going to start up again,” Tim Springer of Orange County, California said.
The lawsuit also alleges, “the tickets purchased by the attendees of the ‘practice run’ event included a provision that if the event is cancelled and not rescheduled for any reason, the ticket purchasers would receive a refund of up to the ticket’s face value as set by the promoter.”
In a joint statement sent on Friday, the chief executive officers of both Formula One and the Las Vegas Grand Prix said their decision to remove fans was because “we were concerned about our public safety and security officials who had been in service for a long time and who are being asked to work for the next three nights.”
Formula One also announced that fans who were impacted by the cancellation will get a $200 voucher to the official Las Vegas Grand Prix Store.
Original News Source Link – KLAS
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