The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2024 that Janel Grant, a former WWE employee, had filed a lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis in a Connecticut federal court. McMahon was accused of sex trafficking in the complaint.
McMahon filed a motion to compel arbitration earlier this week. In response, Janel Grant’s attorneys, including Ann Callis, filed a motion to strike. The Court has been asked to strike the “Preliminary Statement” section of McMahon’s motion and “admonish McMahon and his counsel in a manner the Court deems appropriate.”
The document states the following:
“Instead of using his Motion in the appropriate manner—to raise legal arguments concerning whether this dispute must be submitted to arbitration—McMahon instead uses the Motion’s ‘Preliminary Statement’ as a platform to launch vicious falsehoods attacking Janel’s moral character in a transparent attempt to harass and intimidate her into submission.”
“Yet even if McMahon’s falsities concerning Janel’s private life were true (they are not), these statements have no bearing on the merits of Janel’s claims, let alone the Motion. McMahon’s statements have no place in the Motion, which should be concerned solely with whether this dispute must be submitted to arbitration.”
Following the publication of this story, McMahon’s lawyer, Jessica T. Rosenberg, provided the following response to Grant’s motion to strike request:
“Plaintiff had no right to bring this case in a public court but did so anyway. Now that she chose this public forum to falsely accuse Mr. McMahon, she wants to silence his ability to respond. She can’t have it both ways.”
"Yet even if McMahon’s falsities concerning Janel’s private life were true (they are not), these statements have no bearing on the merits of Janel’s claims, let alone the Motion. McMahon’s statements have no place in the Motion, which should be concerned solely with whether this… pic.twitter.com/3Uu5Lxu2gq
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) April 24, 2024
