AEW and Jon Moxley tried to get a former production worker’s lawsuit moved from Michigan to Florida, but the judge wasn’t having it. The case is staying in Detroit, and one of the reasons is pretty simple — that’s where the whole thing allegedly happened.
According to POST Wrestling, Wayne County Judge Catherine Heise denied AEW and Moxley’s request in an October 5 order. The ruling came after a September 17 hearing over where Christopher Dispensa’s lawsuit should actually play out.
AEW and Moxley had plenty of reasons for wanting Florida. Dispensa lives there, most of the doctors who treated him are there and AEW is headquartered there, so they argued it would make more sense to handle the case in a Florida court. The judge saw things differently. The alleged incident happened during the May 10, 2023 episode of AEW Dynamite at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, and several potential witnesses are also in the area.
Heise even pointed out just how close everything is. The courthouse handling the lawsuit is “within healthy walking distance” of Little Caesars Arena, while any doctors sitting down in Florida can simply testify remotely.
There was also the awkward issue of Michigan law. Since Dispensa’s alleged injuries happened in Michigan, moving everything to Florida could leave a Florida judge having to sort through Michigan law over something that happened hundreds of miles away.
Then there’s the timing. AEW and Moxley didn’t file their motion asking to move the case until July 7, nearly 10 months after AEW answered Dispensa’s complaint in September 2025.
The defendants tried to deal with another potential headache by saying they wouldn’t use Florida’s three-year statute of limitations as a defense if the case was moved. Heise wasn’t willing to gamble on whether a Florida court would actually go along with that arrangement.
She “is not confident that a Florida court would honor such an agreement or even an order so stating from a Michigan court.”
Dispensa originally sued AEW and Moxley in May 2025 over an incident that allegedly happened during Moxley’s match against Kenny Omega on Dynamite. Dispensa, who worked on AEW’s production crew, claims Moxley went away from what had been planned and shoved him to the floor.
He alleges that the shove left him with serious neck and shoulder injuries that eventually required cervical spine and shoulder surgery. His lawsuit includes assault and battery claims against Moxley, negligence and gross negligence claims against Moxley and AEW, along with negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention claims against the company.
This ruling doesn’t mean Dispensa has won any of those claims, and it doesn’t decide whether Moxley or AEW actually did anything wrong. It just means AEW and Moxley didn’t get the change of scenery they wanted, so the legal fight stays in Michigan.
There could still be a way for everyone to avoid taking this thing all the way to a jury. Another settlement conference is scheduled for December 22 after the two sides previously met on July 29 and left those discussions “held for further settlement.”
For now, AEW and Moxley are stuck fighting this one in Detroit, but the actual allegations at the center of the lawsuit still have to be sorted out. With another settlement meeting coming in December, this case could either find its way toward a deal or move one step closer to a jury hearing the whole story.
What do you think about AEW and Jon Moxley failing to get the lawsuit moved out of Michigan? Let us know in the comments below.
