A federal judge on Friday denied a request by NASCAR and NASCAR Chairman Jim France to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
Both teams have not signed charter agreements with NASCAR and filed an antitrust complaint on October 2 against NASCAR and France.
The order issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell came after hearing arguments from both sides in court Wednesday.
Bell wrote in his order: “The parties to this action express their existential dispute in very different terms. According to the plaintiffs, NASCAR (run by the dynastic France family) is the iron-fisted monopolistic ruler of early stock car racing that has imposed “anticompetitive ‘take it or leave it’ conditions” on the plaintiffs and others. top racing teams.
“According to the defendants, NASCAR and the France family are the founders and guiding lights of a beloved and valuable racing series, who have fairly negotiated mutually beneficial ‘charter agreements’ that reflect reasonable business terms between NASCAR and the racing teams.
“What is the actual evidence and how does it inform a correct legal conclusion? These questions cannot be resolved on motions to dismiss in this action, where Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged one or more plausible antitrust claims against Defendants within the time limit applicable prescription.
“Instead, the answers should be found when the parties have full opportunity to pursue discovery of the relevant facts, and then at trial, where the jury will be able to weigh the evidence and assess the credibility of the witnesses (unless the matter is resolved earlier by the parties or by the court). REFUSE defendants’ motions to dismiss.
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The judge also denied NASCAR’s request that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports post bond “in excess of $10 million for each car allowed to race, based on the harm it claims to suffer from being forced to do so.” do under the terms of the charter. “
The court previously ruled in favor of a preliminary injunction that would allow 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to run their three cars as rental cars, although they did not sign the agreement as of September. NASCAR appealed the preliminary injunction.
Bell wrote in his order against the bond: “The alleged harm caused to NASCAR by allowing Plaintiffs to race chartered cars under the same conditions as the other 30 chartered teams is currently both uncertain and unquantified.” Therefore, the Court, in its discretion, will waive the security requirement of Rule 65(c) and will not require Plaintiffs to post bond for the issuance of preliminary injunctions.
“However, by this decision, the Court does not preclude NASCAR’s ability to subsequently obtain reimbursement for damages it claims to have suffered as a result of a wrongfully entered injunction.”
The court set December 1 as the start of the trial.
