Here's Why The Family Of Street Outlaws' Ryan Fellows Is Suing For Wrongful Death

The street-racing series "Street Outlaws" has been one of the low-key jewels of Discovery's reality programming slate since its 2013 debut. It's even spawned a handful of spinoff series, making it one of television's more unexpected franchises. Unfortunately, the legacy of the "Street Outlaws" franchise was marked by tragedy in 2022 when one of its regular cast members lost control of their vehicle during a race and died in a violent crash. That cast member was Ryan Fellows, who died on a secluded road in Nevada while filming a segment for the "Street Outlaws" spinoff series "Fastest in America."

Survived by his wife and two children, Fellows was 41 years old at the time of his death. The "Street Outlaws" production team has been vocal in offering sincere condolences to Ryan's loved ones after the tragedy. However, that has not prevented his family from taking legal action against the series' producers. The Fellows family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the "Street Outlaws: Fastest in America" team in February of 2023, naming the series' backers Warner Bros. Discovery and Lionsgate Entertainment and claiming the production was grossly negligent in their safety measures the night of Ryan's tragic race.

In addressing the legal filing, a spokesperson for Discovery continued to offer condolences to the Fellows family before noting the company was not permitted to comment on ongoing litigation. As of this writing, the legal proceedings remain unresolved.  

If you're unfamiliar with the ways of "Street Outlaws," the series documents actual drag races featuring muscled-up automobiles like those on display in the "Fast & the Furious" franchise. These races are, however, conducted on closed stretches of road, with the production required to have proper permits to operate legally. Every episode of "Street Outlaws" opens with a title card warning that street racing is dangerous. That title card also notes every race seen in the series is conducted "with strict safety protocols in place."

Despite that claim, the suit filed by the Fellows family against Warner Bros. Discovery and their partners contends the production may have ignored those protocols on the night Ryan Fellows died, alleging that the fateful race was conducted on a "dusty, weather-beaten, rough asphalt roadway" outside of Las Vegas. The suit further alleges the race site "didn't meet any of the industry safety standards" for drag racing. Perhaps more damning, the suit also claims producers had already overseen several other crashes on the same stretch of road and repeatedly elected not to move the races to a safer location.

Whatever the case, it may be some time before there is any resolution to the legal proceedings brought by the Fellows family. However matters play out in the courtroom, Ryan Fellows' death will likely hang over the "Street Outlaws" franchise for many years to come — even as the franchise continues without him.