The case was dismissed after the judge ruled that ROKiT’s lawyer was not allowed to practice in the US District court of the Southern District of Florida, where it was filed.
Kendrick will now shift the case to California, where the Englishman and his company are based.
“I'm not letting this go,” Kendrick told Autosport. “We’re going to refile in California.”
The case relates to ROKiT’s period as title sponsor of the Grove outfit. The company paid Williams $19m in 2019 and fulfilled its commitments, but when the start of the 2020 season was delayed by COVID-19 Kendrick asked to renegotiate payments.
But in May and several weeks before the first race Williams ended the agreement and the cars raced without its ROKiT livery that season.
A dispute over the unpaid fees for 2020 subsequently went to the London Court of International Arbitration, where Williams ultimately proved successful.
In April this year ROKiT launched legal action against Williams, also naming former deputy team principal Claire Williams and past team executives Mike O’Driscoll (who served as CEO) and Doug Lafferty (who was chief financial officer). All three left the team in the autumn of 2020 as a result of the takeover by Dorilton.
Kendrick said a Florida court was chosen essentially because of Miami’s F1 current connections.
The filing claimed that the team made “fraudulent statements” about its potential competitiveness, with ROKiT in essence suggesting that the ICA didn’t have the full story when it made its arbitration decision.
Source: Autosport