Lawsuit filed to stop HISA launch on Friday, but judge denies injunction
A federal judge in Louisiana declined on Thursday to grant a temporary restraining order requested by the state of Louisiana and West Virginia that would have stopped the implementation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the national regulatory body for Thoroughbred racing whose jurisdiction goes into effect on Friday.
The judge, Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, declined to issue the order by giving the plaintiffs in the lawsuit – HISA and its officers – 14 days to respond to the lawsuit, which was filed late on Wednesday night.
The lawsuit, the latest attempt by opponents of HISA to thwart its implementation, contended that HISA’s rules “will wreak havoc on the racing industry within a matter of days,” and it asked the court to rule that HISA’s regulations should “be preliminarily and permanently enjoined because they suffer from fatal flaws … or contradict constitutional guarantees.”
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement accompanying the filing that HISA’s regulatory scheme “is half-baked and harmful to everyone in the industry it purports to protect” and criticized the authority for being a creation of the federal government.
“I firmly believe the people of Louisiana should be in control of this activity, not political and corporate elites in some faraway place,” Landry said.
HISA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit asked the court to immediately block the implementation of HISA’s rules and issue a “declaratory judgment and permanent injunction finding the HISA rules invalid and setting them aside,” among other forms of relief.
In addition to the state of Louisiana, the plaintiffs in the suit include the Louisiana State Racing Commission, the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association, the state of West Virginia, the West Virginia Racing Commission, and The Jockeys’ Guild, as well as several racing participants.
The lawsuit makes remarkably similar claims to those that were made in two federal lawsuits contesting the constitutionality of HISA’s enabling legislation, which was passed late in 2020. Both of those lawsuits were dismissed earlier this year by judges in Texas and Kentucky, but the parties in both suits – which included several states and their racing commissions – have appealed the decisions.
On Monday, Senator Joe Kennedy (R-La.) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined two other senators in sending a letter to HISA and its federal overseer, the Federal Trade Commission, asking the organizations to explain several of their decisions in the lead-up to the July 1 implementation date. The letter also asked the authority if it wanted the U.S. Congress to modify deadlines in the enabling legislation.
Doug Daniels, the president of the National HBPA, said in a statement released on Thursday that the parties in the lawsuit were compelled to file the lawsuit after HISA declined requests to delay its implementation.
“Now it has become necessary to request this court decide if HISA is ready for its roll-out,” Daniels said. “The participants are clearly saying the answer is no.”