Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Update – Judge Approves Janel Grant’s Amended Lawsuit to Go Forward & Discovery Phase Delayed

As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in January of 2024 against former TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. Besides McMahon, WWE and former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis were also named defendants in the lawsuit. Grant filed a new amended lawsuit this past February detailing new evidence and claims against McMahon, Laurinaitis, WWE, and others.

Post Wrestling and Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that Judge Sarah F. Russell of The United States District Court of Connecticut issued a ruling this past Monday allowing Grant’s amended lawsuit against McMahon, Laurinaitis, and WWE to go forward based on recent court records.

Russell reportedly also issued a ruling to hold off on the discovery phase for the case until a potential later date. Despite this ruling, Russell reportedly is allowing Grant to request specific “motion-related” discovery that would pertain to the issue of arbitration.

Thurston reported that the defendants are currently expected to resubmit their motions to compel arbitration by June 13th and Grant would be able to ask for discovery related to those motions by June 23rd.

Thurston also reported that Russell’s ruling also rejected arguments from McMahon and WWE that the amended lawsuit should not be allowed because it would be legally “futile” or in “bad faith.” The court reportedly found that Grant met the low legal threshold required to revise her complaint at this state of litigation.

In regards to Russell’s decision to approve Grant’s amended lawsuit, Thurston reported:

“In her order on Grant’s request to update her lawsuit, Russell cited precedent from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the higher court above the U.S. District Court for Connecticut, where this case is underway. The precedent states that courts should use a more flexible, “justice requires” standard for amendments to complaints, unless there has been a formal scheduling order that clearly sets a deadline to make changes. Since no deadline was ever set in this case, Russell ruled that the more permissive standard applies

Therefore, the judge ruled that Grant didn’t need to show “good cause” or explain why she waited to change or add information to her lawsuit. McMahon’s attorneys argued that the changes to her complaint did not help her legal case and therefore shouldn’t be allowed. McMahon in particular, pointed to de-anonymizing individuals, including WWE executives who were previously obscured under pseudonyms, as an effort on Grant’s part to merely create media attention. Attorneys for the former WWE CEO asserted that Grant’s additions are in bad faith and were known to her when she originally filed the lawsuit a year prior.”

In her ruling, Russell stated “It is certainly clear that some of Grant’s proposed amendments include facts she knew or should have known when she filed the Complaint. But her newly pleaded facts do not deprive Defendants of their ability to timely assert that her claims are subject to arbitration. I accordingly decline to find her amendments are in bad faith.”

In an official statement to Post Wrestling, Grant’s representatives stated:

“We’re grateful that Judge Sarah Russell let the facts prevail today and granted our motion to amend Janel Grant’s complaint against Vince McMahon and WWE. The amended complaint is essential to understanding the extent of McMahon’s abuse and trafficking of Ms. Grant and the degree to which WWE failed her. We look forward to moving forward with Ms. Grant’s amended complaint and taking another step toward bringing the truth to light and ensuring Ms. Grant’s allegations against McMahon and WWE are taken seriously.”