LAS VEGAS (Scripps News Las Vegas) — Attorneys for the National Football League and Jon Gruden made their cases Wednesday before a three-judge panel of Nevada Supreme Court justices.
This comes more than two years after Gruden filed a lawsuit against the league for “contract interference and conspiracy” following a leak involving emails that would eventually lead to his departure. The postponement of the hearing came after a scheduling conflict between attorneys.
Jon Gruden appears in court. (Scripps News Las Vegas)
At issue is whether the panel will let stand a 2022 ruling by a district court judge that said Gruden’s lawsuit against the league could move forward.
During the oral arguments before Supreme Court Justices Elissa Cadish, Kristina Pickering and Linda Marie Bell, each side had 15 minutes to present.
It’s unknown when the panel might hand a decision down.
Gruden is accusing the NFL of intentionally leaking the emails — which contained racist, homophobic, and sexist language — that led to his resignation from the Raiders in 2021. He is seeking monetary damages for the leak, which he claims destroyed his career.
Gruden’s emails went from 2011 to 2018 to former Washington Commanders executive Bruce Allen and were found amid emails the league obtained during an investigation into the workplace culture of the Washington team. The emails were sent when Gruden was an ESPN announcer.
The league wants the court to reverse a state court judge’s decisions in May 2022, letting Gruden’s lawsuit proceed, and not to order out-of-court talks that could be overseen by Commissioner Roger Goodell.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Las Vegas, an E.W. Scripps Company.
