Overview
- The NFL filed an anti‑SLAPP motion in Nevada court on Tuesday seeking to dismiss Jon Gruden’s 2021 lawsuit and to curtail discovery into who leaked his emails.
- Nevada’s anti‑SLAPP statute protects good‑faith communications on matters of public concern and lets courts quickly dismiss suits and award fees to defendants when the law applies.
- Reporters say the league obtained roughly 650,000 messages in June 2021 but did not release Gruden’s emails until October 2021 during the regular season, a timing critics say undermines a pure public‑interest claim.
- Gruden sued the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell in November 2021, alleges a ‘malicious and orchestrated’ campaign that cost him his Raiders job, and seeks about $150 million in damages.
- Legal observers say the anti‑SLAPP move is a new procedural gambit after the NFL failed to force arbitration and that a successful motion would likely end the suit early and limit discovery that could reveal the source of the leaks.