Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden will have his lawsuit against the NFL reviewed by the Nevada Supreme Court. This decision comes after a panel split in a previous ruling to dismiss the case, prompting all seven justices to reconsider the findings. The court will not hold oral arguments for the review.
The lawsuit stems from emails leaked to the media before Gruden resigned from the team in 2021. Gruden alleges that the NFL pressured the Raiders to fire him by leaking emails containing racist, sexist, and homophobic comments that he had sent while working as an on-air analyst at ESPN.
The panel had previously allowed the league to move the case into arbitration, with the possibility of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell overseeing the process. While two justices cited Gruden's prior knowledge of arbitration practices in the NFL, a dissenting justice expressed concerns about Goodell arbitrating a case in which he is a named defendant.
Gruden's lawsuit claims that the selective disclosure of the emails, which were published by major media outlets, damaged his career and endorsement contracts. He is seeking monetary damages for the alleged harm caused by the leaked emails.
Gruden, who coached the Raiders during their move from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020, has had a storied career in the NFL. He previously coached the Raiders in Oakland and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning a Super Bowl title in 2003. Gruden also had a successful stint as a TV analyst for ESPN before returning to coach the Raiders in 2018.
The NFL has appealed to the state high court following a lower court's decision to allow Gruden's lawsuit to proceed. The judge in the case highlighted Gruden's claim that the league intentionally leaked only his documents, suggesting a possible case of 'specific intent' to cause harm.
Attorneys for Gruden, Goodell, and the NFL have not yet responded to requests for comment on the latest developments in the case.
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