The “Ring Boys” lawsuit being brought against the WWE and its co-founders, President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon and her husband Vince McMahon, is set to resume.
The civil lawsuit, which claims the McMahons knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a longtime WWW employee, was subject to a temporary pause in the Maryland Supreme Court’s ruling over the Child Victims Act.
On Monday, justices voted four-three to preserve the act, eliminating the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their alleged abusers. The McMahon family denies all allegations.
The court’s decision comes as Linda McMahon awaits her Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Education. Trump, who wants to dismantle the Department of Education, recently claimed McMahon should eventually “put herself out of a job.”
It means the lawsuit filed in Baltimore County on October 23 on behalf of five anonymous ex-ring boys, young employees tasked with building the wrestling ring before events, accusing the McMahons and the WWE of negligence for allegedly fostering a culture of sexual abuse can go ahead.
DiCello Levitt, the law firm representing the victims, said additional ex-ring boys have since joined the suit, according to Fox Sports.
Per the complaint, the WWE co-founders looked the other way for years after allegedly learning of a longtime ringside announcer preying on minors.
Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, is accused of targeting boys – as young as 12 or 13 years old – from disadvantaged backgrounds and hiring them to help with the preparations for wrestling matches, according to the filing.
The lawsuit alleges that between the late 1980s and early 1990s, Phillips would assault the ring boys in his dressing room, hotels and the wrestlers’ locker room.
Because of his death, Phillips is not among the named defendants. Instead, the complaint targets the WWE, its co-founders and parent company TKO Holdings.
“That so many were aware of the sexual abuse of the Ring Boys and did nothing to prevent or stop it is simply unconscionable,” Greg Gutzler, an attorney from DiCello Levitt who represents the five unnamed plaintiffs, told The Independent in October.
McMahon’s attorney Laura Brevetti told CNN in November that the the ring boy lawsuit is “baseless”.
“Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit and without doubt ultimately succeed,” Brevetti said.
Another blockbuster lawsuit against the WWE and Vince McMahon by former employee Janel Grant also advanced in recent days after it was amended to include the name of a former WWE champion Brock Lesnar.
In the 104-page lawsuit, Grant now alleges that she was offered to Lesnar “for a sexual encounter” during his contract negotiations with the WWE.
In addition, Grant alleges that she was told to send sexual content to the former WWE champion.
The lawsuit was submitted to the U.S. District Court in Connecticut. Grant alleges that the WWE was negligent in allowing McMahon’s behavior to go on unchecked. One of the men previously named in the lawsuit, John Laurinaitis, claims that he too was a victim of McMahon.
Another WWE legend, Michael Hayes, is also named in the new filing with Grant alleging that McMahon told her to make pornographic content for him. At the time, Hayes worked as part of the wrestling company’s creative team.
The Independent has contacted the WWE and Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s lawyer, for more information.
