OT: Gruden sues NFL and Goodell

[Brotherblues]

IIRC, didn't Gruden quit? He'd have a lot better case IMHO if he had waited to be fired. Of course... I'm no attorney...

He alleges it was a forced resignation

 

[goheels22002]

To use wrestling terminology, it is a heel vs heel match. No good guy here.

Gruden is a scumbag suing bigger scumbags.

Precisely. The Founding Fathers envisioned a world where small scumbags become big scumbags. They realized that they would never become big scumbags until they could get out from under King George III, who was no slouch as a scumbag himself.

They created a legal system that favored the scumbag with just enough money to hire a really good team of unscrupulous lawyers to go after a bigger scumbag who has more money to hire even more unscrupulous lawyers. The little scumbag gets richer and the unscrupulous lawyers walk away with 30% plus expenses.

Jon Gruden is the product of 245 years of sophisticated luxury scumbag engineering.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Email leakage was just deflection of the real issue by the nfl.

 

[Bill Lee]

Gruden has more than enough money to fund a strong legal challenge, and he's got a strong motivation, revenge.

Some say he will go for the $50+M left on his Raiders contract, but I think it will be more.

He can claim he could keep earning into his 70s (he's currently 58).

Plenty of examples of coaches and broadcasters working deep into their 60s and even into their 70s (Terry B?).

He can/will claim NJFL took all that away from him by targeted, malicious leaks.

Rodger paid himself $128M over the last two seasons, that sounds like a reasonable target to aim for.

 

[The Boston Patriot]

I hope and pray Gruden takes that miserable POS to the cleaners.

 

[Foxypats]

I have always wondered when and why the mindset and role of the commissioner changed . If I remember correctly, Tagliabue wasn't like this, he was pretty straight laced and the NFL was so much better than. What the he** changed ?? I don't remember him ever going after one organization so maliciously like Goddell did with the Patriots.

 

[PP2]

I hope and pray Gruden takes that miserable POS to the cleaners.

That would be nice. I would be flabbergasted if it ever got as far as discovery. Gruden would have to turn down confidential settlement offers in the 100's of millions. Let's see.

 

[Jlaff]

Gruden has more than enough money to fund a strong legal challenge, and he's got a strong motivation, revenge.

Some say he will go for the $50+M left on his Raiders contract, but I think it will be more.

He can claim he could keep earning into his 70s (he's currently 58).

Plenty of examples of coaches and broadcasters working deep into their 60s and even into their 70s (Terry B?).

He can/will claim NJFL took all that away from him by targeted, malicious leaks.

Rodger paid himself $128M over the last two seasons, that sounds like a reasonable target to aim for.

Unlikely, but I'd love for Goodell to be found solely and completely liable and have to pay out of his own pocket.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I have always wondered when and why the mindset and role of the commissioner changed . If I remember correctly, Tagliabue wasn't like this, he was pretty straight laced and the NFL was so much better than. What the he** changed ?? I don't remember him ever going after one organization so maliciously like Goddell did with the Patriots.

Agree and Goodell was a POS from year1.

 

[oldrover]

Well, I would imagine Gruden might have a few emails sent to him that could be useful...



"Here's one for the attorney... here's another... ooh, this is a good one... save and send!"

 

[jah]

another hit job by the "establishment" going after someone who doesn't bow down to the NFL overlords....similar to the coordinated hit on Portnoy

Yeah dude, because Portnoy would never do that kind of thing. It's just not consistent with any of his prior statements or expressed attitudes.

 

[Brandon_Cox]

So far I haven't seen a copy of the lawsuit and the "seven claims for unspecified damages," so take this for what it's worth. The first defense filed in literally every civil lawsuit is some version of Plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In simple English, it means that even if everything Gruden alleges is considered true, he still hasn't stated an actionable claim.

"In contrast to the formalities of the Washington Football Team investigation, Defendants' treatment of Gruden was a Soviet-style character assassination," the lawsuit says. "There was no warning and no process. Defendants held the emails for months until they were leaked to the national media in the middle of the Raiders' season in order to cause maximum damage to Gruden." OK but so what? Just because Ginger Satan and the Snyders did him dirty, doesn't mean he's entitled to relief. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the lawsuit to see how he gets there.

Where Chucky has all his leverage is in discovery. If he can survive a Motion to Dismiss, he can presumably get to the 500K+ emails and start taking lots of depositions. The NFL will do anything to stop that from happening, including paying him off.

 

[n1997y]

As much as his leaked emails disgust me, I hope he wins the lawsuit. You can go on about those are the nfls emails property but I do find it odd, like everyone else that only Grudens were released. 650,000 emails and none released regarding the investigation at hand which was the WFT cheerleading scandal. No juicy deflategate details or other scandals. Definitely imo they burned down Gruden to take the heat off and also a vendetta for Grudens xomments regarding Goofdell. Knowing what we know about the nazi pos sob, would anyone be surprised?

IANAL but as I understand things: No those emails are not the NFL’s property. They are property of the WFT.

They were delivered to the league (or the league’s designated representatives) pursuant to various legal agreements between the team and the league.

As such I expect Gruden has a strong case that the league actually has a duty to preserve confidentiality.

I hope it goes to trial just for some of those esoteric legal points to be addressed.

 

[n1997y]

So far I haven't seen a copy of the lawsuit and the "seven claims for unspecified damages," so take this for what it's worth. The first defense filed in literally every civil lawsuit is some version of Plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In simple English, it means that even if everything Gruden alleges is considered true, he still hasn't stated an actionable claim.

"In contrast to the formalities of the Washington Football Team investigation, Defendants' treatment of Gruden was a Soviet-style character assassination," the lawsuit says. "There was no warning and no process. Defendants held the emails for months until they were leaked to the national media in the middle of the Raiders' season in order to cause maximum damage to Gruden." OK but so what? Just because Ginger Satan and the Snyders did him dirty, doesn't mean he's entitled to relief. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the lawsuit to see how he gets there.

Where Chucky has all his leverage is in discovery. If he can survive a Motion to Dismiss, he can presumably get to the 500K+ emails and start taking lots of depositions. The NFL will do anything to stop that from happening, including paying him off.

Yes it’s SOP, but aren’t courts generally inclined to regard loss of job as actionable damages, and the responsibility therefor to be dependent upon facts to be developed at trial? In other words, unlikely to dismiss if not patently frivolous?

 

[TheRainMaker]

Gruden will win.

 

[Brandon_Cox]

Yes it’s SOP, but aren’t courts generally inclined to regard loss of job as actionable damages?

The simple answer is no. Damages are damages. To survive a Motion to Dismiss, you've got to allege more than "I lost my job." Now, you can be sure one of the counts is Tortious Interference with a Contractual Relationship, with the contractual relationship being his employment contract. He'll have to have some proof that the league released the emails, which will be a tough hill to climb.

Look, I haven't seen the Complaint so this is all wild ass speculation. It's quite possible he has made one or more actionable claims. I hope he has because I would love to see a loathsome Plaintiff and even more loathsome Defendants fight it out in Court. The entertainment value would be awesome.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

WFT had the emails for years so it is not credible to say that WFT leaked the emails years later. The WFT emails must have a lot more in them including "cheerleader stuff" that would lead to a host of more lawsuits. Really would be fun if Gruden gets past the Motion to Dismiss.

 

[Bill Lee]

I don't remember him ever going after one organization so maliciously like Goddell did with the Patriots.

IMO, it's NJFL jealousy, with a healthy dose of anti-semitism thrown in.

 

[Jlaff]

The simple answer is no. Damages are damages. To survive a Motion to Dismiss, you've got to allege more than "I lost my job." Now, you can be sure one of the counts is Tortious Interference with a Contractual Relationship, with the contractual relationship being his employment contract. He'll have to have some proof that the league released the emails, which will be a tough hill to climb.

Look, I haven't seen the Complaint so this is all wild ass speculation. It's quite possible he has made one or more actionable claims. I hope he has because I would love to see a loathsome Plaintiff and even more loathsome Defendants fight it out in Court. The entertainment value would be awesome.

I love economic torts, they stop people from ****ing with your livelihood.

 

[PP2]

So far I haven't seen a copy of the lawsuit and the "seven claims for unspecified damages," so take this for what it's worth. The first defense filed in literally every civil lawsuit is some version of Plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In simple English, it means that even if everything Gruden alleges is considered true, he still hasn't stated an actionable claim.

"In contrast to the formalities of the Washington Football Team investigation, Defendants' treatment of Gruden was a Soviet-style character assassination," the lawsuit says. "There was no warning and no process. Defendants held the emails for months until they were leaked to the national media in the middle of the Raiders' season in order to cause maximum damage to Gruden." OK but so what? Just because Ginger Satan and the Snyders did him dirty, doesn't mean he's entitled to relief. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the lawsuit to see how he gets there.

Where Chucky has all his leverage is in discovery. If he can survive a Motion to Dismiss, he can presumably get to the 500K+ emails and start taking lots of depositions. The NFL will do anything to stop that from happening, including paying him off.

Ginger Satan.. I love that. I'm going to steal it.