Maura Healey is moving toward suing IndyCar organizers over failure to refund tickets
The Massachusetts attorney general had given organizers of the canceled Boston race until Monday to present a reimbursement plan.
Maura Healey is moving ahead toward legal action against IndyCar organizers over the failure to reimburse ticket buyers after plans to hold a Labor Day weekend race in Boston’s Seaport District fell apart earlier this spring.
The Massachusetts attorney general sent a five-day notice to Boston Grand Prix, the local organizing entity; its manager, John Casey; and the national IndyCar governing body, Healey’s office confirmed Tuesday.
As The Boston Globe first reported Tuesday, the notice allows the AG’s office to sue at the end of the five days.
Healey had given the group until Monday to come forward with a viable plan to refund ticket buyers.
“We will be prepared to take whatever action is necessary to make sure ticketholders are made whole,” a spokeswoman for Healey told Boston.com on Monday, after the deadline had passed and the AG’s office was reviewing Boston Grand Prix’s plans.
Healey first threatened to sue over the canceled race on June 16, when her office subpoenaed organizers for records pertaining to who bought tickets, where sales revenue went, and why the money was not immediately returned to ticket buyers.
Boston Grand Prix officials said Monday afternoon, just ahead of Healey’s end-of-business-day deadline, that they were working with with investors, sponsors, and other race stakeholders in the hopes of creating a fund to reimburse ticket holders.
Apparently, given Tuesday’s developments, those discussions did not meet Healey’s standards for a viable plan.
Boston Grand Prix reportedly sold upwards of $2 million in ticket sales. But after spending about $400,000 to repay those who bought tickets for the botched race, the local group had run out of money to refund.
Boston Grand Prix is already being sued by the national IndyCar organization over alleged breach of contract and failure to refund tickets.
And as the Globe reports, that’s only the beginning of the “pile-up of lawsuits” to come after the race “crash and burned in April.”
A one-time race sponsor, Global Partners LP, has also sued Boston Grand Prix in Essex Superior Court, according to records.
The Boston engineering firm Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, Inc. filed suit against Boston Grand Prix in May, claiming to be owed $446,096, plus ongoing interest, for “thousands of man-hours” of work performed under contract with the Grand Prix.
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