Warner served as trial counsel for Ryan Hunter-Reay – professional race car driver for Andretti Autosport and the 2014 Indianapolis 500 champion.
In 2005, when Mr. Hunter-Reay was an up-and-coming driver, he raced for a Michigan-based team, Rocketsports Racing, which is owned by Paul Gentilozzi. Mr. Gentilozzi terminated Mr. Hunter-Reay in violation of his contract and then set out to ruin Mr. Hunter-Reay’s reputation in the industry. Mr. Hunter-Reay arbitrated the wrongful termination with Mr. Gentilozzi and was awarded $2.7 million.
After converting the award into a judgment, Mr. Hunter-Reay sought to collect, but Mr. Gentilozzi stymied his efforts by creating a sham company. Mr. Gentilozzi named the new company “RSR” and shifted assets to RSR, but claimed the $2.7 million owed to Mr. Hunter-Reay was a debt of the old company. Mr. Gentilozzi had run Rocketsports Racing over the years without regard to corporate formalities, benefiting himself and others at the expense of the company’s creditors.
Mr. Hunter-Reay filed suit in federal court in Michigan to collect his $2.7 million judgment under theories of successor liability, fraudulent transfer, and piercing the corporate veil. After a five day bench trial, Judge Robert Holmes Bell ruled in favor of Mr. Hunter-Reay. In particular, Judge Bell pierced the corporate veil and held that Rocketsports was a mere instrumentality of Mr. Gentilozzi. Additionally, the Court ruled that RSR was a successor of Rocketsports, and therefore was liable for payment of the arbitration award. Judge Bell entered the $2.7 million judgment against Mr. Gentilozzi personally and RSR.
