9 months ago
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Last week, a lawsuit was filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant alleging that she experienced systemic sex trafficking and rape at the hands of Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis. The lawsuit has already greatly affected the company, with McMahon resigning from his position as WWE Executive Chairman late last week. A new article from Sportico now lays out some possibilities for how things may progress from here.
The best possible outcome for WWE, McMahon, and Laurinaitis is for the judge to rule that this matter should be decided in arbitration, due to the intricacies of the NDA. If that happens, the proceedings will remain private pending the outcome of the arbitration. If Grant is released from her NDA, she will be free to speak on the topic; otherwise, it will remain behind closed doors.
If the lawsuit is allowed to progress, much more information will inevitably come out in evidence. That will likely include more text messages and emails and, with Grant's suit claiming that various WWE employees were at least vaguely aware of her situation, other figures within the company could be implicated.
As a public company, WWE and TKO are beholden to their shareholders, and certain regulations must be followed. One of those regulations, in many places, is the ability for stockholders to "sue for wrongful acts." In other words, if executives of a company act in an illegal manner that could result in negative repercussions for the company, a class-action lawsuit may be filed.
This has happened to WWE before, including with a lawsuit filed last year alleging "breach of fiduciary duty claims" regarding the WWE-UFC merger. That lawsuit has yet to be resolved. More details emerging in a public suit could conceivably provide more ammunition for shareholders.
