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Janel Grant filed 139 pages of documents yesterday before The United States District Court of Connecticut to argue against Vince McMahon and WWE attempting to move her lawsuit into private arbitration.
Grant's lawsuit against McMahon and WWE alleges “that McMahon lured her with promises of career advancement, and then he allegedly exploited her and trafficked her to other men inside the company.” Grant signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2022 with McMahon, agreeing to a payment of $3 million to not publicly disparage him or to discuss their relationship. She alleges in the suit that he stopped making payments after $1 million, one third of the agreement, was received. Her lawsuit is seeking to void the NDA and additional financial damages.
In yesterday's filing, Grant argued specifically against the idea that the lawsuit's proper place is arbitration based on the NDA she entered into with McMahon as her attorneys argued, "The NDA that WWE seeks to hide behind is void and unenforceable as a matter of law. First, it was drafted and signed in furtherance of crimes and is void as a matter of public policy. This is not Ms. Grant’s allegation—it is a matter of record. Two federal courts, the Southern District of New York and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, found sufficient evidence of criminal intent by McMahon and WWE’s counsel in the negotiation and signing of this NDA to pierce the attorney-client privilege. Further, in a consent agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), WWE and McMahon admitted that several NDAs, including the one at issue here, were entered into by McMahon to mislead investors and hide his use of WWE funds both to perpetrate and cover up his abuse of women, including Ms. Grant. WWE pinned the issue on McMahon and insisted he entered WWE into multiple NDAs without its consent, and McMahon was ordered to repay WWE $1.3 million as a result. WWE cannot now turn around and claim that it is entitled to enforce that same illicit agreement. Allowing WWE to wield the NDA to silence Ms. Grant here, after accepting a seven-figure victim restitution payment from McMahon for that same NDA, would be a perversion of justice.
Grant also argued that the NDA and its arbitration clause would now be void under federal reforms passed in the wake of the #MeToo Movement and that McMahon's alleged acts against her continued even after they entered into the NDA (alleging McMahon forced her to engage in oral sex in their last in-person meeting, after the NDA was signed), arguing, "Even if Ms. Grant had capacity to agree to release or privately arbitrate pre-NDA assaults—which she did not—it could not bar her from asserting claims for sexual assaults she endured post-NDA." They are also arguing that when Grant signed her NDA, she was not in a proper state to sign it, claiming at the time she was sleep-deprived and in an "extreme state of duress." Grant's attorney's argued, "[Vince] McMahon’s coercive control over Ms. Grant eliminated her capacity to consent and tainted the negotiation of the NDA, and specifically the negotiation of the arbitration clause."
Elsewhere in the filing, Grant's attorneys claim that McMahon pushed the negotiations of the NDA over eight days, a swiftness her attorney questioned. The filing claimed that Grant was sent a to-do list "for reasons of effectuating" the NDA that McMahon stated was drafted by Brad Blum and that then-McMahon and WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt handled the drafting of the NDA itself. She stated that McDevitt claimed he couldn't open files sent by her attorney and allegedly re-drafted the NDA and that she was so broken down by the process and being pushed to sign, that she did so without her attorney knowing and claimed to have zero memory of there ever being an arbitration clause. Several emails from McDevitt were included in the filing.
Among the statements made yesterday by Grant in the filing arguing against the arbitration, where she is requesting she "receive her day in court" were the following allegations:
*Vince McMahon told Grant that in March 2021 he had disclosed the nature of their relationship to WWE President Nick Khan and former COO Brad Blum. Blum later exited WWE and now works for McMahon's new company. It also claims McMahon said former WWE general counsel Brian Nurse had raised concerns about the relationship, which McMahon indicated had been “handled.”
Grant's declaration stated:
“Vince then informed me that he had spoken privately with Nick Khan and Brad Blum during which he formally disclosed the sexual nature of his relationship with me. He said they expressed concern and one questioned whether I could be trusted. Vince told me he provided them with assurances about my loyalty, character, that I would never do something to hurt WWE, and that I ‘would sooner jump off the balcony than hurt anyone.’ He told me that, with these assurances, Nick and Brad were ultimately supportive.”
“Vince revealed that he and WWE leadership determined that I was a corporate liability. He then told me that they needed me to leave the legal department immediately as my presence had affected their ability to hire a new General Counsel.
To explain this, he revealed that the former General Counsel, Brian Nurse, had highly suspected or knew about Vince’s sexual relationship with me, and he brought it to the attention of Vince’s office during a meeting with Brad. As a result, Vince then flicked his wrist and stated it was ‘handled.‘
I understood this to mean that the General Counsel had identified Vince’s conduct with me as a liability to the Executive Office and was subsequently terminated.”
Elsewhere in the filing, Grant alleges she was directed to present herself to others in a degrading manner.
“I felt trapped, given the involvement of Vince, Nick, Brad, Johnny, and what I understood to be a coordinated corporate response. Vince instructed me to go to my new boss’s hotel room—paid for by WWE—and present myself to him as ‘breakfast.’ In early April, I was in such severe emotional and physical distress that I attempted suicide.”
“When I told Vince about the attempt and that I was fortunate to survive, he responded with a voice memo instructing me: ‘Go knock on Johnny’s door in the morning… Ok, I’ll talk to you later, I hope. Ok. Bye.’ Following his direction, I went to Johnny’s hotel room again the next morning. I was instructed to do this at least five times, and I felt I had no choice.”
The memorandum also goes very deeply into Grant's allegations that she was sexually abused by McMahon and that he attempted to traffic her to WWE star Brock Lesnar. The filing goes into direct texts made by Lesnar under the name "Polish Joe", that McMahon ordered her to keep him in the loop of all communication, that Lesnar pushed her to degrade herself by filming herself urinating and that there were several attempts by McMahon and/or Lesnar to get Grant to meet Lesnar for sex. Grant alleged, in graphic detail, alletged rough sex with McMahon in order to "prepare her" for Lesnar and at one point, used a large sex toy on her that he claimed he would use to prepare her for Lesnar and would also send to Lesnar after. The filing also alleges when Lesnar learned she was working in Talent Relations, he became irate, stating he hated everyone who worked in the department, including John Laurinaitis, and was led to believe she was working in the company's legal department. Grant also alleges that Lesnar was led to believe she was the one who wished to engage with him and that she needed to find out what her cover story was from McMahon. She also alleged that McMahon continued to push her into communications and potential sexual acts with Lesnar despite what she claimed was fear and trepidation.
Grant also recounts being allegedly sexually assaulted by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis in June and July 2021 at the former WWE HQ, Titan Tower. She alleges she was offered to an unnamed WWE talent sexually in July 2021 by McMahon. She also alleged, "Between Tuesdays and Thursdays, Vince regularly delayed and/or walked out of meetings in progress to drive home for sexual gratification and return hours later to HQ."
Grant also claimed, "Throughout our entire “relationship,” Vince subjected me to physically violent sexual interactions with himself and others, causing both physical and mental trauma. Sex with Vince and others became so violent that I often cried and suffered physical side effects, including bleeding, swelling, bruising, and incontinence. As a result of the physical and psychological trauma, I also experienced panic attacks, sleep deprivation, dizziness, exhaustion, rashes, hair loss, severe weight loss, and migraines." Grant also alleged that Nick Khan and Brad Blum were aware, alleging they were "surveilling my every move and enabling Vince’s abuse."
The documents also included a statement from Dr. Chitra Raghavan, a Clinical Psychologist from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NYC, declaring that in her clinical opinion, Grant suffered and continues to suffer from psychological trauma, including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (including nightmares, sleep disturbances, numbness, dissociation, mistrust, and fears of being physically harmed alternating with a belief that Defendant McMahon may still value her) and also meets the criteria for Persistent Depressive Disorder and Agoraphobia.
Grant was also previously suing former WWE Exec John Laurinaitis, but has come to terms on a settlement with him.
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If you or someone you know needs assistance, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is 800-656-4673
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