Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden got a couple of victories in a Nevada court on Wednesday, as Judge Nancy Allf denied NFL motions to dismiss his lawsuit against the league and force the issue in arbitration, according to Front Office Sports. The Super Bowl-winning head coach alleges that the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell created “a malicious, orchestrated campaign” to filter out inappropriate emails sent by him between 2010 and 2018.
The NFL issued a statement to FOS following the court’s decision Wednesday, saying neither the league nor Goodell leaked Gruden’s emails to the media.
“We believe that coach Gruden’s claims should have been forced into arbitration, and we will appeal against the Court’s determination. The Court’s denial of our motion to dismiss is not a determination of Coach Gruden’s lawsuit, which, as we said at the outset, has no legal and factual basis and comes from a false premise: neither the NFL nor the commissioner leaked offensive emails from Coach Gruden. “
Gruden resigned as head coach of the Raiders in October after the media reported several emails. In emails recovered during the league’s investigation into the Washington football team, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden used a racial trope to criticize NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith in 2011. A few days later, The New York Times reported that other emails contained homophobes, misogynistic and sexist insults – ultimately forcing Gruden’s resignation.
“Defendants leaked a carefully selected selection of Gruden’s emails, sent years before the Raiders hired him, to their usual outlets for filtering information in the media: the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times,” they wrote. Gruden’s lawyers in a March document, by FOS. “The defendants then took advantage of these emails to force Gruden to resign and eventually caused Gruden to lose his coaching career, endorsements and sponsorships.”
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Judge Allf denying the NFL’s motion to send the dispute to arbitration is an important development. This means that not only will the case remain in court, but a trial could lead to who was specifically behind the leak and the possible discovery of other unfavorable information.
“We’ll let the process go by itself,” Gruden said outside the room. “Good luck to the Raiders. Go Raiders. I have nothing [else] to comment. This process will do itself. It’s good to be back in Las Vegas. I’m going to see friends tonight. “