Las Vegas Italian restaurant files lawsuit against F1 organizers, Clark County

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Representatives from a prominent Italian restaurant located near the Las Vegas Strip filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the organizers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and Clark County after they said they lost millions of dollars because of event-related construction.

Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc. (LVGP) Liberty Media Corporation, LV Diamond Property 1, LLC, and Clark County are all named as defendants in the suit.

Ferraro’s Ristorante , which opened in November 1985 and has since been recognized globally, is “Las Vegas’ longest-running family-owned authentic Italian restaurant,” the lawsuit stated. Gambero Rosso, a prominent Italian food and wine magazine, listed it “as one of the best Italian restaurants in the world.”

According to the lawsuit, the restaurant suffered a loss of “thousands of guests and millions of dollars” over approximately 8 months during ongoing F1-related construction.

The 29-page lawsuit claims that F1 organizers “touted: economic boom and benefit to the city, but the F1 race had the opposite effect on Ferraro’s, causing what the lawsuit calls “irreparable harm” to the restaurant and its employees.

The lawsuit said the restaurant, located at 4480 Paradise Road, is accessible by entrances on Paradise, Harmon Avenue or South University Center Drive. The business is “completely dependent” on guests, taxis, and rideshares using those roads to access the restaurant.

The lawsuit claimed that F1-related construction “effectively cut off and severely limit access to the Property and its business for the better part of nine months,” and that the limitation “would be an annual occurrence.”

“F1’s construction rendered it impossible for general tourists, convention attendees, or locals to access Ferraro’s” when it “severely limited and often dramatically reduced access” to the business over about eight months, the lawsuit claimed.

The lawsuit claims Ferraro’s lost “the majority of its regular customer base” due to the F1 construction, leading to fewer tips for employees. Additionally, vendors and suppliers were also impacted with hours of travel time added to reach the restaurant.

“The F1 construction was unpredictable and cripplingly disruptive. The lane closures and complete road closures fluctuated continuously, sometimes different from hour to hour,” the lawsuit read.

The owners of Ferraro’s told 8 News Now in Nov. 2023 that reservations at the restaurant were down from an average of 200 to 400 diners per day, down to around 20 to 40 just days before the Grand Prix kicked off.

Additionally, F1 constructed a bridge on Flamingo Road to “provide access to resorts within the F1 Circuit between Las Vegas and Koval Lane.” The construction of the bridge caused the road to close for approximately 11 days while it was built and 11 days while it was dismantled.

The bridge was not dismantled until February, roughly 3 months after the F1 race.

While the bridge was up, the lawsuit claims it “prevented practical ingress and egress to Ferraro’s,” meaning customers and employees faced difficulties getting to the restaurant. The lawsuit said employees had to leave their homes early “just to sit in traffic for hours in an attempt to get to work on time.”

According to the lawsuit, possible plans to make the Flamingo Road bridge permanent would be “devastating” to the restaurant.

The lawsuit said that in or around March 2022, LVGP, under the name Liberty Dice, entered into a letter of intent with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority (LVCVA) to facilitate an annual Formula 1 Grand Prix race in Las Vegas that included the Strip, to be held from Nov. 16-18, 2023 and “each year thereafter on the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.”

The lawsuit claims that the letter of intent said the local community “would be able to operate as usual with minimal disruption.” Documents claim the owners of Ferraro’s Ristorante were never given any prior notice by F1 for race-related construction around their business and were never “provided a fair opportunity to voice any objections to the County expressing an intent for a long-term F1 Race in the Resort Corridor.”

The lawsuit also claims that despite county code requiring a special use permit, LVGP never obtained one for the F1 circuit or the F1 race as they did not follow the application process that requires a neighborhood meeting and notice to all property owners.

Instead, Clark County granted LVGP a “less rigorous” special event permit, which is normally used for activities that will “very temporarily” close a roadway, such as a grand opening or a parade.

According to the lawsuit, “a special event permit should not be issued if it will ‘unduly interfere with the orderly operation of public roadways, hospitals, parks, schools, or other public and quasipublic institutions in the county.’”

The lawsuit claims LVGP was allowed to “intentionally circumvent local ordinances and was further allowed to proceed without complying with permits that were issued.”

Two other lawsuits against the racing giant were already filed , one from the Ellis Island Hotel & Casino in late April. A second lawsuit from Battista’s Hole in the Wall and Stage Door Casino was filed in early September. A fourth lawsuit from Jay’s Market was “pending,” 8 News Now was told.

After meetings in August, County Commissioners indicated they would reach out to the restaurant to “work through the issues caused by F1,” but no one from the county ever reached out, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit seeks an award against the defendants in favor of the restaurant in an amount in excess of $15,000, an award for pre-condemnation damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, equitable relief, and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.

8 News Now reached out to LVGP and Clark County. Officials at Las Vegas Grand Prix indicated they cannot comment on pending litigation, and the county had the same response.

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