F1: COTA Says Hellmund Agreed To Arbitration

Formula 1

F1: COTA Says Hellmund Agreed To Arbitration

Circuit of The Americas leadership seeks to put an end to Tavo Hellmund issues...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted May 24, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Tavo Hellmund is in a dispute with the US GP project in Austin, Texas. (Photo: Adam Cooper, SPEED.com)

The battle between COTA and Tavo Hellmund – the original driving force behind the US GP – continues to rumble on.

COTA says that Hellmund committed himself to settling any disputes by arbitration. It quotes a partnership agreement as saying “any controversy, claim or dispute between or among the Company and any Member or among Members arising out of or relating to this Company Agreement or any other matters pertaining to the Company, shall be settled by binding arbitration.”

To that end, COTA says that it has “today filed with the District Court of Travis County, Texas, an amended plea in abatement and motion to compel arbitration.”

COTA has also agreed to release to the public information related to the dispute that had previously been sealed by the court.

Circuit Chairman Robert Epstein said: “Our intent from the beginning has been to resolve this matter efficiently through the agreed-upon binding arbitration process, and we feel that unsealing the court records moves us closer to this goal.”

COTA attorney Michael Whellan added: “We believe the facts made public through today’s filing strongly support our position that Mr. Hellmund’s claims and accusations—and his misrepresentations to Circuit representatives and the public about his ability to assign Formula 1™ race contracts—only serve to undermine his case.

“We believe the tactics Mr. Hellmund and his legal team have employed to date are meant to purposely generate negative public sentiment about Circuit of The Americas in hopes of extracting a large settlement. Unfortunately, we do not expect these tactics to end anytime soon. Nonetheless, we are prepared to arbitrate this dispute as the parties have agreed to do in writing.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

The following statement was issued in response to a news release distributed by Circuit of the Americas (COTA) earlier today: “If Bobby Epstein truly desires an efficient resolution of his dispute with Tavo Hellmund, as he now claims, he can simply honor the $18 million buyout agreement that he signed in September of 2011. If not, Tavo is prepared to amend his pleadings to include charges of fraud and other misdeeds, based on newly discovered evidence. We believe this evidence demonstrates that Mr. Epstein intended to force Tavo out of the F1 project from the beginning. As required by the September agreement signed by Mr. Epstein, these new claims will be litigated in the Travis County, Texas courts—not in a secretive arbitration proceeding.” - Eric Wetzel, a spokesman for Tavo Hellmund’s legal team.

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