WWE, Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and TKO Group Holdings, Inc. have been dealing with new legal challenges due to a lawsuit filed on October 23. The lawsuit accuses them of negligence regarding their response to the sexual abuse of underage boys by former WWE employee Mel Phillips, in the “Ring Boy Scandal.” After months of delay, it now appears that all parties involved have asked a federal court in Maryland to throw out the lawsuit.
According to PWInsider, Vince McMahon’s lawyers say the court in Maryland has no right to judge the case because McMahon never lived in Maryland. His legal filing says: “As a nonresident who is not domiciled in Maryland, there is no general personal jurisdiction over McMahon.” They argue that the plaintiffs didn’t show any proof that McMahon did anything wrong in Maryland. He also says the lawsuit doesn’t clearly show he did anything that would make him personally responsible.
The filing also says only one of the former ring boys even claims to have met McMahon, and that meeting didn’t happen in Maryland. McMahon also argues that he had no way of knowing Phillips was a danger. “Plaintiffs do not sufficiently allege that McMahon had knowledge, constructive or otherwise, that Mel Phillips… posed a danger.”
The lawsuit refers to “negative press, unfounded opinions, speculation, and multi-level hearsay… from a hodgepodge of characters (many of whom are deceased)” but, McMahon says, that’s not enough to prove anything.
McMahon also says the plaintiffs are relying too much on old stories and rumors, rather than solid facts, stating, “To the extent that a limited number of the allegations arguably imply such knowledge… they lack the factual support, plausibility, consistency, and definiteness required to state a claim.”
WWE and TKO also made it clear they want the case dismissed. Their filing says: “Neither WWE nor TKO is subject to personal jurisdiction in Maryland… and Plaintiffs have failed to adequately plead a negligence claim.” They state the plaintiffs are claiming Phillips abused them after asking them to help out at wrestling events, including some in Maryland. However, WWE and TKO argue there’s no proof they knew Phillips was a threat, or that they had a legal duty to protect the boys, saying, “Plaintiffs do not properly allege the existence of any legally cognizable duty.”
They say the abuse happened when WWF still existed, but WWF doesn’t exist anymore. The current companies are different, and the plaintiffs didn’t give any good reason why today’s companies should be responsible for what happened back then. It was added that neither WWE nor TKO is based in Maryland, and the plaintiffs didn’t prove that the companies did business there in a way that would allow the court to take the case.
WWE and TKO argue the plaintiffs didn’t show enough facts to prove they were negligent, especially since most of the claims are about things that happened after the abuse allegedly took place.
“The handful of allegations that arguably precede the events… fail to plausibly plead that TKO or WWE was, or should have been, aware of Phillips’s alleged conduct.”
The lawsuit claims that someone told McMahon that Phillips was seen in a car performing a sexual act on a young boy, but McMahon’s lawyers say the plaintiffs don’t have firsthand knowledge of that. The claim is based on what two wrestlers (now deceased) allegedly said in 1992, and even they didn’t witness it directly.
“Plaintiffs cannot plausibly claim that their alleged injuries were rendered ‘reasonably foreseeable’ based entirely on unsupported allegations made by two deceased nonparties… to an event they did not witness.”
The lawsuit also claims McMahon admitted knowing about Phillips’s behavior for years. They cite a 1992 article by New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick, where McMahon supposedly said he and Linda knew about Phillips’s “peculiar and unnatural interest” in boys. However, McMahon’s lawyers state that’s twisting what Mushnick actually wrote. They argue: “Plaintiffs cannot brandish Mushnick’s tabloid soundbite ad nauseam… to gin up a plausible claim.”
Linda McMahon also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. She says the court has no authority over her because she hasn’t lived in Maryland for over 50 years. Her motion says that just because she once rented an apartment there in the early 1970s doesn’t give Maryland courts power over her today. She may have had a wrestling license to be at ringside in 2004, but that expired long ago.
Linda McMahon says the plaintiffs haven’t proven she did anything wrong in Maryland or that she had any responsibility for what happened. The filing says making her defend the case in Maryland would be “burdensome” and “not constitutionally reasonable.” It also points out that some of the plaintiffs live far away, including in Florida, so Maryland isn’t even convenient for them either.
The motion adds that the lawsuit doesn’t prove she had a legal duty to protect the plaintiffs or that she ever employed Phillips directly. It says: “If Plaintiffs are unable to establish a duty owed to them by WWE… they certainly cannot establish such a duty owed to them by Ms. McMahon.”
As the court decides whether it has the right to hear the case and if there’s enough evidence, the results could have a big impact on WWE, its leaders, and the wrestling world as a whole. Therefore, we’ll have to see how the case will proceed in the coming months.
What are your thoughts on the legal arguments presented in this case? Do you think the court should dismiss it based on jurisdiction? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.