WWE, Vince McMahon Attempt To Prevent Discovery In Janel Grant Lawsuit (WWE News)
The latest in Janel Grant's lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE.
In the latest development in the Janel Grant lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE, both defendants are looking to block Grant's team from discovery.
As per POST Wrestling, Monday saw McMahon and WWE file opposition to Grant's attempt to find new information, stating how Grant hasn't met the legal standard for pre-arbitration discovery and accusing her of seeking out documents that are unrelated to the main question of whether she was coerced into signing an NDA.
Dismissing Grant's attempts to gather evidence from a period of more than six years, McMahon's legal team stated:
"The Court should refuse to indulge Plaintiff’s [Janel Grant’s] improper fishing expedition and deny the Motion in full.”
The discovery request from Janel Grant highlighted 20 different categories of evidence, some of which are internal communications records and meeting minutes from WWE's Board of Directors that date back as far as 2019.
In a filing from WWE, they stated that Grant's request for evidence was done in order to bypass an earlier decision to delay broader discovery.
From WWE's legal team, their statement reads:
“Grant’s document requests are a transparent attempt to circumvent the Court’s stay order and initiate full merits discovery before the Court is able to decide Defendants’ motions to compel arbitration. Grant has failed to present any allegations, let alone ‘reliable evidence’ that she did not intend to be bound by the arbitration provision or that the agreement to arbitrate was induced by fraud or duress."
In a filing from last Monday, Janel Grant's legal team requested access to documents from Vince McMahon and WWE that included emails between Vince and Linda McMahon in relation to Grant and her NDA. They also requested documents that contained drafts of that NDA, WWE board materials, and correspondence between Vince McMahon and Dr. Carlton Coker. Dr. Colker and his Peak Wellness clinic are alleged to have given Janel Grant medication that was not disclosed to her, with Colker having since sued Grant's attorney for defamation.
It's now a year and a half since Janel Grant filed her lawsuit back in January 2024, alleging that she was sexually assaulted and sex trafficked by Vince McMahon, bringing her case against WWE after citing the company had enabled McMahon's behaviour. John Laurinaitis was initially named as a defendant in this case, though he was removed in May after agreeing to provide evidence against McMahon and WWE.