Janel Grant’s attorneys indicated in new court filings that Grant plans to modify her lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon, and John Laurinaitis. The amended complaint is expected to be filed on Jan. 15, 2025, a year after the initial lawsuit was filed on Jan. 25, 2024.
It remains unclear what specific changes Grant, a former WWE paralegal, plans to make in her amended complaint.
Grant’s original 67-page complaint detailed graphic allegations of sexual assault against McMahon and Laurinaitis. She also accuses McMahon of sex trafficking, including using potential sexual encounters with her as a bargaining chip during the renegotiation of Brock Lesnar’s talent contract.
The defendants have denied the allegations.
Grant also asserted in her initial complaint that WWE leaders—including current President Nick Khan and former executives Brad Blum, Stephanie McMahon, and Brian Nurse—were aware of and complicit in McMahon’s behavior, arguing that makes WWE liable as well. Executives other than McMahon and Laurinaitis are not accused of abuse. WWE said last year that Khan had no knowledge of Grant’s sexual abuse allegations before the lawsuit was filed.
While the federal case was on pause over the summer, Grant was involved in litigation at the state level in Connecticut against Dr. Carlon Colker and his clinic Peak Wellness, revealing additional allegations. Grant says that McMahon sent her for treatment at Colker’s clinic numerous times where she was given supplements and infusions the specifics of which were not disclosed to her. Grant petitioned Colker and his clinic for evidence including her medical records.
The defendants are continuing to push to move the case out of public court and into private arbitration, citing an arbitration clause in the nondisclosure agreement signed between McMahon and Grant in January 2022.
Shortly after the stay recently expired on December 11, all three defendants refiled their motions to compel arbitration, with submissions made on December 23 and 24. Those filings largely resembled their earlier motions. However, McMahon notably included a new detail, hinting at the possibility of a defamation suit against Grant in the future.
“While it will be impossible to fully remedy the wrong of publicizing [Grant’s] salacious and false allegations, Defendant McMahon will pursue appropriate remedies at the proper juncture,” McMahon’s attorney wrote.
“Vince McMahon’s motion to compel arbitration is another desperate attempt to silence Janel Grant,” Grant’s lead attorney Ann Callis said in a statement to POST Wrestling. “We know the truth of his abusive and exploitative behavior against Ms. Grant, including sexual assault and human trafficking. Ms. Grant deserves the opportunity to tell her story and have her day in court.”
McMahon’s representatives didn’t address Callis’s statement when asked for comment.
The case was put on hold in June to accommodate a federal investigation by the Southern District of New York, which was reportedly considering criminal charges against McMahon. While Grant’s attorneys say that investigation remains active, no charges have been filed and the six-month stay expired on December 11.
Grant’s legal team put forward the notion that the investigation could continue. “On December 11, 2024, the day the stay was set to expire,” Grant’s lawyers wrote, “the Government advised Plaintiff, through her counsel, that it could continue its investigation of Defendants without the stay” despite allowing it to expire.
Under federal court rules, Grant is allowed to amend her complaint once without permission from the court.
In Thursday’s new filing, Grant’s side submitted email exhibits showing communications from Callis to the defense. The emails show that Callis informed the defense on Dec. 16 of Grant’s plan to amend her complaint by Jan. 15, 2025, and proposed a schedule for future filings.
The exhibit shows McMahon’s lead attorney, Jessica Rosenberg, replying the same day.
“We will connect with our respective clients on this and get back to you shortly,” Rosenberg responded.
In her related motion, Callis framed Rosenberg’s response as “on behalf of all Defendants”, including McMahon, WWE, and Laurinaitis, suggesting coordination between WWE’s and McMahon’s legal teams despite WWE’s efforts to quietly distance itself from McMahon since his resignation. Legal counsel for all parties were included as recipients of the emails exchanged between Callis and Rosenberg.
Callis indicates the defendants didn’t follow up until December 23, when a lawyer from McMahon’s counsel informed Grant’s attorneys they would be refiling their motions.
“Defendant McMahon filed a Motion to Compel Arbitration and accompanying papers only a few minutes after his counsel sent that email.”
WWE’s renewed motion was filed later the same evening. The next day, Laurinaitis submitted a joinder, which is a formal filing that states he is adopting and agreeing with the arguments made in McMahon and WWE’s motions, rather than submitting a separate, detailed motion of his own, consistent with his actions before the stay.
Grant’s side on Thursday asked the court for a status conference next week to discuss the schedule. If the judge rules that such a conference isn’t necessary, Grant’s counsel requested in that scenario that the court formally lift the stay and set a schedule for the due dates for the parties’ next filings.
