Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden picked up a big win in his mission to prove the NFL was responsible for the leaked emails that led to his resignation from the team in 2021.
The Nevada Supreme Court has agreed to a full review of Gruden’s case, which accuses the NFL of leaking racist, homophobic emails from the former head coach to then-Washington Commanders executive Bruce Allen between 2011 and 2018.
The league has refuted Gruden’s claim.
Nevada’s highest court isn’t scheduling oral arguments but said Thursday that all seven justices will reconsider findings after a panel split 2-1 in a May 14 decision to dismiss the case. The same three justices on July 1 rejected, by the same 2-1 margin, a request from Gruden’s attorneys to reconsider.
The panel decided the league could move the civil case into arbitration that might be overseen by a defendant, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Two justices said Gruden knew when he signed a contract with the Raiders that the NFL used arbitration to resolve disputes. The dissenting justice said it would be ‘outrageous’ for Goodell to arbitrate a dispute in which he is a named defendant.
Following his resignation, Gruden sued the NFL claiming they ruined his reputation
Attorneys for Gruden, Goodell and the league didn’t immediately respond Friday to email messages. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment.
Gruden’s lawsuit alleges that Goodell and the league pressured the Raiders to fire Gruden by leaking emails containing racist, sexist and homophobic comments that Gruden sent, when he was an on-air analyst at ESPN, about Goodell and others in the NFL.
Specifically, Gruden called the now-former NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith ‘Dumboriss Smith,’ saying the African-American lawyer had ‘lips the size of Michelin tires.’
In another email to Allen, Gruden called Goodell a ‘f*****’ and a ‘clueless anti football p****.’
Gruden resigned from the Raiders in November 2021.
The NFL appealed to the state high court after a state judge in Las Vegas in May 2022 rejected league bids to dismiss Gruden’s claim outright or to order out-of-court talks that could be overseen by Goodell.
The judge pointed to Gruden’s allegation that the league intentionally leaked only his documents. She said a jury could decide that was evidence of ‘specific intent,’ or an act designed to cause a particular result.
Four unnamed team owners told ESPN in 2023 they think Goodell was involved with the leak, while Snyder is accused of sharing the emails with the New York Times and Wall Street Journal
Gruden was Raiders head coach when the team moved in 2020 to Las Vegas from Oakland, California. He’s seeking monetary damages, alleging that selective disclosure of the emails and their publication by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times ruined his career and endorsement contracts.
Raiders owner Mark Davis felt the leaks were a ‘setup,’ but decided to poll current and former team players to gauge whether or not he should fire Gruden, a source previously told ESPN.
Davis was leaning towards keeping Goodell until, sources say, he was pressured by Goodell to ‘do something’ – a directive the Raiders owner saw as the Commissioner’s effort to protect now-former Commanders owner Dan Snyder, who was facing sexual harassment allegations at the time.
After all, it was the NFL’s investigation into those harassment claims against Snyder and the Commanders that uncovered Gruden’s emails to Allen in the first place.
Gruden called the NFLPA chief ‘Dumboriss Smith,’ saying he had ‘lips the size of Michelin tires’
The league’s sexual harassment investigation resulted in a $10 million fine, but specific allegations against Snyder and the team were never revealed by Goodell, who cited privacy concerns for the controversial decision. A subsequent Congressional probe uncovered further allegations against the team and Snyder, who has since sold the team.
But to Davis, the 2021 email leaks appeared to be the NFL’s effort to insulate Snyder from the sexual harassment allegations, and Gruden was simply collateral damage, according to ESPN.
‘F*** the NFL,’ Davis allegedly told Gruden. ‘And f*** Dan Snyder.’
Snyder has denied the sexual harassment allegations against himself.
According to ESPN interviews with executives, lawyers, agents, as well as league and team officials, Snyder enlisted the help his law firm, Reed Smith, and Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez to insulate himself from the sexual harassment claims. (Roc Nation, the entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008, has a $25 million contract to aid the NFL on social justice issues)
Sources told ESPN that Snyder was hoping to deflect blame over sexual harassment allegations against himself and the team onto Allen by leaking the emails. Furthermore, ESPN reports, Snyder was hoping to gain favor with Goodell by giving him ammunition against Gruden, one of his long-time critics.
Allen did not respond to 2023 phone messages from DailyMail.com, and the Commanders declined to comment when contacted by ESPN last year. (The brother of ex-Virginia governor, George Allen, Bruce was fired by Washington after the team went 3-13 in 2019 and later found himself in his own legal battle with Snyder over the remainder of his contract)
Interestingly, Gruden’s brother, Jay, worked for Snyder and Allen as the Redskins head coach from 2014 until 2019, although he has not been implicated in the matter.
Gruden coached the Raiders in Oakland from 1998 to 2001, then led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for seven years, winning a Super Bowl title in 2003. He spent several years as a TV analyst for ESPN before being hired by the Raiders again in 2018.
