Vince McMahon has filed a new motion in response to Janel Grant’s lawsuit against him, and Grant’s lawyer issued a response.
On January 25th, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon that contained horrifying allegations of grooming, abuse, and sex trafficking. The suit is seeking to void a previous NDA and seeks financial damages of an unspecified amount. This is the latest in allegations about Vince McMahon that began back in 2022 when it was reported that the WWE Chairman paid $12 million in hush money to four women.
On January 26th, Vince McMahon resigned from all duties with TKO and WWE while continuing to deny the allegations against him.
Grant’s lawsuit included a demand for a jury trial, and on April 23rd, Vince McMahon filed a motion to compel arbitration, arguing that the NDA signed by Grant included a clause that required any future disputes between the two parties to be settled in arbitration rather than a court of law.
The motion claims that the relationship between Grant and McMahon was completely consensual.
In Grant’s original lawsuit, she alleged that Vince McMahon groomed her while she was dealing with grief after losing both of her parents. In the new motion, McMahon claims that Grant could not have been suffering from overwhelming grief as her parents died more than two years prior to their relationship beginning. The motion also questions her claim of being primary caregiver to her father as he resided in a senior living facility prior to his death in April of 2017.
Continuing, the motion claims that any alleged sexual abuse was a “complete falsehood” and points to Grant living her fiancé at the time her affair with McMahon began. According to the motion, the heinous acts described in Grant’s lawsuit could not have been carried out when she returned home to her fiancé after meeting with McMahon.
The motion states that due to Grant violating the terms of her NDA and discussing her relationship with Vince McMahon, McMahon decided to stop paying her as outlined by the terms in the agreement.
McMahon accuses Grant of seeking publicity with her lawsuit, denying all allegations against him. A portion of the motion reads:
For the avoidance of doubt, however, Defendant vehemently and categorically denies all allegations of wrongdoing in the Complaint, including Plaintiff’s outrageous claims that Defendant coerced Plaintiff into unwanted sexual acts, sexually assaulted and/or battered her, trafficked her, and defecated on her. Those are false statements intended for publicity.
How Did Janel Grant’s Attorney Respond To Vince McMahon’s Motion?
In a statement issued to POST Wrestling, Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis issued the following response to claims about Grant’s grief at the time she met McMahon:
Vince McMahon has never known a storyline that he doesn’t twist to fit his own shameful narrative. Her father was in in-home hospice during his final days where Janel continued to care for him around the clock. Prior to his death, she had been caring for her blind, wheelchair-bound mother. Using the grief of someone who lost both of her parents is an all new level of disgusting.
When it comes to allegations that Grant was involved in a relationship with her fiancé at the time she began dating McMahon, Callis issued the following statement:
She was not dating at the time. Her ex-boyfriend allowed her to stay in the apartment as she rebuilt her life and resume post-taking care of her parents. She had no job and no other financial support to lean back on.