In a steadfast rebuff to the National Football League's legal maneuvers, Clark County District Judge Joe Hardy spared no mercy for the NFL's playbooks on Wednesday. The league's efforts to shut down Jon Gruden's lawsuit hit a wall, as Hardy dismissed not just one, but two motions aiming to put an end to the former Las Vegas Raiders coach’s courtroom blitz.
The legal scrimmage unfolded with the NFL looking to dodge the bullet, their lawyers arguing that the case ought to be squelched or at least pushed to the sidelines of closed-door arbitration. But Hardy, calling the shots from the bench, wasn't having any of that. As reported by News3LV, these latest jukes by the NFL came after the Nevada Supreme Court earlier handed down a 5-2 decision tossing the league's arbitration clause flag on the play, highlighting as "unconscionable" Commissioner Roger Goodell's say-so in arbitrating disputes concerning his own filings.
Gruden's legal Hail Mary was launched back in 2021. The coach claimed the NFL, with Goodell quarterbacking the smear campaign, willfully leaked emails containing his offensive remarks, leading to an untenable gridiron of public outcry and his eventual exit from the Raiders lineup. The league remains on defense and denies any leak plays, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
With the courtroom equivalent of the instant replay, NFL lawyer Kannon Shanmugam attempted to tackle Gruden's allegations head-on, stating, "Gruden does not dispute that the emails were his own, nor could he seriously do so in light of the fact that he apologized for the emails, he promptly resigned after their publication," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. However, Gruden's legal team sniffed out what they argue is a fear of the discovery process on the league's part. Adam Hosmer-Henner accused the NFL of "judge shopping," aiming to find a more favorable field position, so to speak.
As the game clock ticks down, Gruden is after heavy-hitting damages for what he terms tortious interference with his coaching contract, negligence, and civil conspiracy, a real triple-threat offensive against the NFL's legal defense. With Judge Hardy’s latest decision, the lawsuit is set to continue in the legal trenches.
