Plaintiffs added to lawsuit over Copa America final nightmare

This story has been updated with new information and more details about the amendments to the lawsuit.

In July, soccer fans denied entry to this summer’s Copa America final due to an ugly security failure at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium filed a complaint seeking to be a class-action lawsuit. Wednesday, an amended version of the lawsuit was filed with four new plaintiffs and two new defendants.

The lawsuit still seeks class action certification and damages for ticket sales, travel expenses, and “missing the experience of viewing this Copa America Final match in person.” The July 14 game was a major event mobbed with people — those who purchased tickets and others who attempted to rush the gates without tickets — hoping to see Lionel Messi and Argentina win their second consecutive Copa America title 1-0 against Colombia.

The class is not seeking damages for personal injuries.

Lead plaintiff Das Nobel, who was the only plaintiff named in the original version of the complaint, is joined by Eduardo Martinez, Daniel Grande, William Pou and David Ziemek. They are represented by Varnell & Warwick, a law firm based in Tampa, Florida, which declined comment when reached by USA TODAY.

Two parking lot operators — County Line South Properties and Dolphin Center Properties — have been added as defendants in the case. They join the operators of Hard Rock Stadium, soccer federations CONMEBOL and Concacaf, and BEST Crowd Management, Inc.

The operators of Ticketmaster, the company used to distribute tickets, is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Hard Rock Stadium, Conmebol and Concacaf for comment on the amended lawsuit.

People crowded closed security gates before the match as stadium officials and local law enforcement hoped to stop unruly fans entering without tickets. Some of those fans jumped stadium fences, and even entered through a vent under the stadium during the chaos.

Stadium officials, in conjunction with CONMEBOL, Concacaf and law enforcement hoped to diffuse the emergency situation by letting everyone into the stadium shortly before the delayed start time. But after the mass entrance, the stadium gates remained closed to all, including ticket holders.

The lawsuit also says Hard Rock Stadium failed to implement an adequate safety and security plan, failed to establish a perimeter or ticketed checkpoints, permitted parking and watch parties for fans outside the stadium, and failed to predict the scope and scale of people without tickets on stadium grounds.

Hard Rock Stadium, CONMEBOL and Concacaf worked with Ticketmaster to offer refunds to fans who purchased tickets on the primary market. Fans who agreed to the refund process were asked by Ticketmaster to release and waive claims for damages against the parties. Fans who purchased tickets from secondary market companies were left to recoup their losses with those entities.

Noble, an Argentina fan from Dallas who attempted to attend the final with his wife and two children, was the first to file a lawsuit. He purchased four tickets from SeatGeek for $9,948.86. He paid $4,587.87 for hotel accommodations and $10,000 for flights. He left the stadium at 9:50 p.m. after his family was denied entry, according to the complaint.

Martinez purchased four tickets from Ticketmaster to the Copa America Final for $4,395.59. Grande paid $9,000 for two tickets in Hard Rock Stadium’s 72 club and $750 for parking on the day of the final. Both initially filed individual lawsuits with Varnell & Warwick.

Pou, who left a class-action filing with another law firm to join this lawsuit, paid $1,900 for five tickets and $100 in parking and travel costs.

Ziemek, a new plaintiff in the case, traveled from Colorado to attend the final with his brother and father, in hopes to watch Messi play after missing him in action due to injury two previous times. He paid $1,650 for a ticket, only to watch the final at a nearly bar. The lawsuit said he “has not achieved his lifelong dream of seeing Messi play in person, and he likely never will.”

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