Jon Gruden lawsuit: Las Vegas judge’s order states NFL cannot force former Raiders coach into arbitration
Jon Gruden and the NFL have been locked in a very contentious lawsuit since November of last year, asserting that the league disclosed his personal emails in an attempt to destroy both his career and reputation.
In a fresh development, District Judge Nancy Allf ruled that the NFL cannot force the former Las Vegas Raiders head coach into an arbitration process beyond the court. Allf rejected a motion by the NFL to dismiss the lawsuit in May this year.
Allf concurred with the former head coach that forcing arbitration would be prejudiced since the NFL Constitution would let NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell act as the arbitrator.
The judge also ruled that the NFL’s arbitration system is “circular,” because, in order to move forward with arbitration, Goodell would first have to decide if his conduct was “detrimental to the best interest of the NFL or professional football.”
The judge's order states:
“Proceeding to arbitration, Gruden cannot win without invalidating the arbitration process. If Gruden prevails and his conduct was not detrimental, then Commissioner Goodell’s initial determination was incorrect and the dispute should not have been referred to arbitration.”
The league has disputed the former head coach's claim that the emails that led to his exit were all sent before he signed an agreement with the Raiders.
Lawyers for the league said this back on August 16 this year:
“Gruden’s claim (and purported finding of fact) on the timing of his emails is, in reality, very much disputed by the NFL Parties and in fact false. Discovery — necessary to make any finding of fact on this issue — will show that Gruden continued to send the same kind of derogatory emails consistently following his start date with the Raiders.”
Jon Gruden and the emails leading up to his departure from the Raiders
Between 2010 and 2018, the 59-year-old allegedly used racist, sexist, homophobic and transophobic language in emails, which the New York Times reported before he was hired by the Raiders in January 2018.
According to the Times, he frequently called Goodell a “f—t” and a “clueless anti football p—y.”
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach also used homophobic slurs to describe the NFL owners, coaches and journalists who cover the league.
He also reportedly exchanged emails with former Washington Commanders president Bruce Allen and others that contained photos of women with just bikini bottoms. One picture reportedly included two Commanders cheerleaders.
NFL officials unearthed the emails as part of a workplace misconduct investigation into Allen.
They were not specifically targeting the head coach, who was not in the league at the time.
Gruden had already come under fire for using a seemingly racist trope against NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith in a 2011 email to Allen.
He stepped down as Raiders head coach in October 2018 and has since apologized for the emails.
We'll have to see if the head coach gets a second chance in the NFL and can be victorious in his lawsuit versus the NFL.
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