GM flagged for “unsportsmanlike conduct” by federal judge in racing lawsuit

Last year, a private Corvette racing team sued General Motors, claiming the automaker blocked the team's efforts to race a Corvette in the American Le Mans series in favor of GM's own factory-backed Corvette team. Last week, a federal judge in Texas threw out some of the private team's lawsuit — but left much of it intact, and called out GM for "unsportsmanlike" conduct.

LG Motorsports, founded by owner Lou Gigliotti, decided in 2007 to enter the GT2 racing class for modified sports cars — the one contested by Porsche, BMW and other manufacturers. LG bought a Corvette C6 racing chassis built by Riley Technologies, GM's official supplier, but only after GM promised it had no interest in racing GT2 cars.

But after a year of racing in 2008, GM changed course, and announced it would field a team of factory-prepped Corvettes in GT-type racing around the world. LG says after that decision, GM made several moves to sabotage LG's efforts, blocking its Corvette from international certifications and telling tire supplier Michelin — whose tires were the only competitive option for any GT2 team — not to sell rubber to LG. Without the right tires, LG Motorsports was blocked from international races and struggled in the American Le Mans series, and LG claims one of its drivers quit in frustration.

After filing suit in Texas in 2011, GM asked the lawsuit be dismissed, claiming LG had no legal right to force GM and Michelin to do business with it, that LG had many other options to race in GT2, and even that GM's bankruptcy meant LG had sued a company that by legal standards no longer exists.

Reviewing the claims, U.S. Magistrate Don Bush ruled in March that several of LG's claims should be dismissed, including that Michelin and GM had violated antitrust law by refusing to sell it tires. "It may well be that GM...is engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct and that its actions are wholly petty and self-centered," Bush wrote, "but such actions do not rise to antitrust claims."

Yet Bush left much of LG's lawsuit intact, saying GM could be liable for the driver leaving LG and other damages to LG's business, which includes selling tuning parts based on its race performance. The magistrate even put in a footnote that the "Corvette Racing Team has fared rather poorly over the last two years."

U.S. District Judge Richard Schell approved Bush's report over GM's objections last week. A trial date hasn't been set, but the checkered flag could fall as soon as later this year.