NFL Seeks to Dismiss Gruden’s Lawsuit in Nevada: Legal Case Continues

Nevada Supreme Court Returns Jon Gruden Case to Lower Court; NFL Seeks Dismissal

The Nevada Supreme Court has made a decision in the Jon Gruden case, returning it to the state District Court. At the same time, the NFL has filed two motions seeking the expedited dismissal of the claims. Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in October 2021, following the publication of emails he sent years earlier, which contained racist, misogynistic, and homophobic language. A month later, he sued the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, alleging a “malicious and orchestrated campaign” to destroy his career by leaking the emails. In the motion filed on Thursday, NFL attorneys used strong language, arguing that Gruden’s lawsuit is based on unfounded accusations and should be dismissed.

Jon Gruden’s lawsuit, which attempts to wrongly blame the NFL and its commissioner for the consequences of the racist, misogynistic, and homophobic emails that Gruden wrote and widely distributed, is based solely on unsubstantiated allegations that fail as a matter of law or fail to establish a claim, and should have been quickly dismissed when the NFL parties first requested it.

NFL Attorneys

Previously, the Nevada Supreme Court had denied the league’s appeal of an August 11 decision, which allowed Gruden to continue with his lawsuit and avoid league arbitration. The league’s lawyers argue that Gruden cannot dispute the authorship of the emails, nor their sending to multiple parties, nor claim that they were edited or altered, and that, instead, he has created a fictional story to present himself as a victim of his own actions. The motion to dismiss invokes Nevada’s anti-SLAPP law, which protects against lawsuits intended to silence those who exercise their First Amendment rights. In 2022, the NFL appealed to Nevada’s high court after a judge in Las Vegas rejected the league’s proposals to dismiss Gruden’s lawsuit or to order out-of-court talks through an arbitration process. The higher court, in a 5-2 decision, ruled that “the arbitration clause in the NFL Constitution is excessive and does not apply to Gruden as a former employee”. Gruden was an analyst at ESPN from 2011 to 2018, when the emails were sent. He was the Raiders’ coach when the team moved to Las Vegas from Oakland, California, in 2020. He is seeking monetary compensation, arguing that the selective disclosure of emails and their publication ruined his career and sponsorship contracts. Gruden coached the Raiders in Oakland from 1998 to 2001, then led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for seven years, winning a Super Bowl title in 2003. After his time at ESPN, he was hired by the Raiders in 2018. He consulted for the New Orleans Saints in 2023. He is currently a co-owner and consultant for the Nashville Kats of the Arena Football One league.