The defendants in the complaint filed by Kevin Kelly (Kevin Foote) and Brandon & Brent Tate have filed a motion to dismiss the claims and to enforce the arbitration clauses in the contracts.
On Friday, a 40-page response was issued by the representatives for All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan & Ian Riccaboni. The suit was filed in August, seeking claims for declaratory judgment, breach of contract, tortious interference with a contract or business relationship, and defamation and false light among the allegations.
The defendants are requesting that the plaintiffs’ claims be dismissed due to an improper venue and to enforce their AEW contracts that call for arbitration. The alternative to arbitration, according to the defendants, would see the case tried in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Jacksonville Division.
It argues that only two members of the case, Kevin Kelly and Ian Riccaboni, are residents of Pennsylvania and that the case should be tried in Florida where AEW is based and where the contracts were executed.
They argue that the plaintiffs agreed to resolve all disputes in Duval County, Florida, and that their contracts state disputes would be resolved in arbitration privately.
The complaint notes that Kevin Kelly’s contract called for up to 80 events per year and entered into an agreement with AEW on June 12, 2023, and was a three-year deal through June 30, 2026. Foote was terminated on March 6 of this year.
Brandon & Brent Tate entered agreements with AEW on August 23, 2023, which called for a minimum of 80 events in the first year and a minimum of 100 events in the second year of the contract. The deals ran until July 31, 2025, with AEW having the ability to extend through July 31, 2026. The complaint says the Tates were terminated on April 6 “due to budget cuts”, although in media appearances that week, Tony Khan stated they had missed events.
The defendants are arguing that moving the case to Florida would be beneficial to Riccaboni, due to the potential of incurring greater costs to defend himself:
Defendant Riccaboni has a strong interest in having this case tried in the Middle District of Florida because of his contractual relationship and defense agreement with Defendant AEW and its counsel. If required to retain his own counsel against Plaintiffs defending against a class action case in federal court, Defendant Riccaboni would incur significant and burdensome expenses. Moreover, because Plaintiffs chose to bootstrap claims against Defendant Riccaboni to their contract-related lawsuit against AEW, Defendant Riccaboni would incur the unnecessary expense of having to pay his own counsel to respond to a 267-paragraph complaint, assert his position in all motion practice conducted throughout the pendency of this action, and defend him through dispositive motions and trial.
The Jackson Lewis law firm is representing the defendants.
