The NFL’s motion to move the lawsuit brought by former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden out of a Nevada courtroom and into arbitration was denied by a judge this week — a decision the league will appeal.
District Court Judge Nancy Allf ruled the 10-year, $100 million contract signed with the Raiders in 2018 “limits arbitration to disputes exclusively between Gruden and the Raiders,” according to Nevada court records.
Gruden sued the NFL after racist, sexist, and homophobic emails he exchanged with former Washington Commanders exec Bruce Allen were published last October, which led to Gruden’s abrupt resignation.
After Allf’s ruling on Wednesday, lawyers for the NFL filed a motion on Thursday that stated the league’s intention to appeal Allf’s decision to the Supreme Court of Nevada.
If Allf’s decision is upheld on appeal, the case would progress toward discovery, which leaves the possibility Gruden — and the public — could gain access to the cache of emails used in the first outside investigation into the Commanders and owner Dan Snyder.
In the lawsuit, Gruden alleges the league leaked those emails that were gathered as part of the investigation into the Commanders conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson. The league denies it was the source for the emails published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
“The court concludes that Gruden’s present claims do not arise out of contractual obligations in the agreement but are directed at the NFL Parties’ allegedly tortious conduct,” Allf wrote in her decision. “Gruden alleged that the NFL parties leaked documents to the media and provided documents and summaries to the Raiders in order to cause him harm.”
Gruden and the Raiders entered into a settlement, and the team is not a defendant in the case.
Gruden had already fought off the NFL’s motion to dismiss the case at a hearing in May.
Allf’s ruling was seized upon by attorneys representing former Miami Dolphins head coach and current Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach Brian Flores. Flores’ attorneys entered Allf’s decision in a Friday filing.
Flores’ attorneys have fought for months to keep that lawsuit out of arbitration.
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