Yes, but I can't reproduce it successfully.
I mostly start games the following instead of using Express Start, but I tried both ways now and didn't get the error:
1) Click "Play with friends".
2) Add hotseat friend.
3) Click "Play now" (Once steps 1 and 2 are done once, step 3 can be repeated)
I will report back once I can reproduce it consistently, but when it happens, it's kind of annoying, and I don't know if it's because I'm doing something wrong.