A judge on Wednesday ordered the discovery process to proceed in former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL, despite the league’s attempt to delay it.
Gruden filed his lawsuit in 2021 against the league and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, arguing that the NFL leaked emails he wrote with racist, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ language and pushed for the Raiders to fire him. He resigned from his coaching role after news reports emerged about the emails.
NFL and Goodell attorney William Marks argued that District Judge Joe Hardy should pause discovery pending an appeal of his decision in December to deny their motion to dismiss the suit based on Nevada’s anti-SLAPP law.
SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuits against public participation and the anti-SLAPP statute is intended to limit civil liability for people exercising free speech rights in connection with “an issue of public concern.” Discovery is the process in which attorneys exchange information while preparing a case for trial.
Hardy seemed skeptical of the NFL’s request for a delay and said the anti-SLAPP motion was “without merit,” “was not filed in good faith” and was a “tactical misuse.” He ordered the NFL to participate in discovery.
“Under your argument, couldn’t anybody essentially, regardless of case, posture, procedure file an anti-SLAPP motion two years, three years into a case and then I automatically have to stay?” the judge asked Marks. “That seems to be a little bit of a stretch.”
The anti-SLAPP motion was filed in 2025, when the case had already been pending for years.
Marks said the defendants made good faith arguments for an extension of time. The anti-SLAPP statute is designed to avoid additional litigation costs and resolve issues quickly, so not staying discovery defeats the purpose of the statute, he said.
The NFL argued in filings that the law pauses discovery when someone appeals the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss.
Gruden’s attorney Adam Hosmer-Henner suggested the NFL was trying to stall.
“The NFL defendants have felt things are not going well for a while now,” he said.
He added that lawmakers wanted cases without merit dismissed at the outset of litigation and “not to have an anti-SLAPP motion filed four years too late.”
Defense attorney Maximilien Fetaz declined to comment after court.
“We appreciate the Court’s decision and its clear direction to move the case forward,” Hosmer-Henner said in an email.
After refusing to pause discovery, the judge and attorneys discussed scheduling. Hardy indicated that the discovery process would last 12 months and the trial would run for about four weeks.
Previously, the case spent years before the Nevada Supreme Court, where attorneys tangled over the question of whether Gruden could be forced into arbitration.
The Supreme Court ruled in August that Gruden could not be compelled to undergo arbitration, sending the case back to the trial court.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.