The contentious courtroom battle pitting Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR has expanded into fiery court filings over scheduling during the holidays.
As Sportico detailed on Tuesday, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have submitted a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction. If granted, the injunction would allow the two teams to compete as de facto chartered teams despite not signing a charter agreement. It would also ensure the two teams not forfeit antitrust claims even though charter teams contractually relinquish potential claims as a condition of a charter.
U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney denied the first motion for injunction on grounds 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports failed to establish what specific harm or harms would occur without an injunction. The renewed motion attempts to cure that deficiency by claiming the two teams have reached a time-sensitive agreement to buy a charter from Stewart-Haas racing that, absent an injunction, would cause them to forfeit their antitrust claims.
In conjunction with the renewed motion, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports insisted through attorney Jeffrey Kessler that Whitney should grant an expedited briefing and hearing schedule. The teams argued that the combination of the time-sensitive nature of their motion, coupled with the Thanksgiving holiday, justify an accelerated timeline.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsport further emphasized that their “business partners have requested conversations occur as soon as this week.” The two teams also noted that Dec. 17, 18 and 20 are all key dates to “meet certain contractual deadlines” though the teams declined to specify what those deadlines concern. The plaintiffs proposed that NASCAR respond to their renewed motion by Dec. 6, followed by the plaintiffs’ responding to NASCAR’s response by Dec. 10 and Whitney holding a hearing on Dec. 12 or Dec. 13.
But NASCAR, through attorney Tricia Wilson Magee, argued that the plaintiffs failed to show there is good cause to expedite the standard schedule and urged Whitney to reject the plaintiffs’ request. As NASCAR tells it, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports “tactically delayed filing their new motion for a preliminary injunction for over a week” and “intentionally” dropped “it on NASCAR and the Court” in a “late night filing … on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday.”
NASCAR also pointed out that the plaintiffs mentioned on social media their plan to submit a renewed motion, but then waited “many hours” to actually file it in court. As to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports asserting the need to “meet certain contractual deadlines,” NASCAR contends such a “general assertion” doesn’t merit an abbreviated schedule–particularly since, as NASCAR put it, “Plaintiffs decided to wait to bring this renewed motion for over a week after becoming aware of their claimed ‘changed circumstances’.” NASCAR also noted that its attorneys are already “working diligently” to meet other deadlines in the litigation, including its answer to the plaintiffs’ complaint and a motion to dismiss by Dec. 2.
Whitney weighed the dueling arguments and, in a ruling Wednesday, declined to adopt the plaintiffs’ proposed schedule.
Noting the court’s “inherent authority to manage its docket,” Whitney picked Dec. 9 instead of Dec. 6 for when NASCAR must respond, and Dec. 12 instead of Dec. 10 for when 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports can respond to NASCAR’s response. The judge declined to set a hearing date on the renewed motion and said that date would be set in a forthcoming order. To the extent 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports can’t postpone their contractual deadlines for Dec. 17, 18 and 20, whether Whitney schedules a hearing (and renders a decision) by Dec. 17 could prove crucial.
Like other federal district judges, Whitney presides over multiple cases at the same time. This is important to consider when weighing his capacity to bend to the scheduling demands of a party, even a multibillion-dollar entity like Michael Jordan or NASCAR. A quick look at Whitney’s schedule from Dec. 9 to Dec. 17 finds he has scheduled hearings for other cases, including sentencing hearings for defendants in criminal prosecutions involving carjacking, theft of government funds and other crimes. While pro sports litigations tend to attract media attention and often involve high monetary stakes, judges usually treat them like other cases and not give them priority on account of their celebrity.