Jon Gruden scored two early wins today in court in his lawsuit with the NFL.
Judge Nancy L. Allf ruled in favor of the former Raiders head coach on two motions earlier today, denying the NFL's motion to compel arbitration and also denied the league's attempt to get the case completely dismissed.
The lawsuit is now set to go to trial unless a settlement is reached between the two parties - which seems unlikely (at best) at this point.
The NFL plans to appeal the decision, and they shared the following statement with media members:
"We believe Coach Gruden's claims should have been compelled to arbitration, and we will file an appeal of the Court's determination. The Court's denial of our motion to dismiss is not a determination on the merits of Coach Gruden's lawsuit, which, as we have said from the outset, lacks a basis in law and fact and proceeds from a false premise -- neither the NFL nor the Commissioner leaked Coach Gruden's offensive emails."
All eyes will now wait patiently for the discovery of additional emails and documents that could come out in a trial stemming from Gruden's claims of "tortious interference," stating that the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell selectively leaked Gruden's emails to force his firing back in October.
Asked a number of questions as he left the courtroom, Gruden simply offered statements saying that the process would take care of itself.
Back on October 11th, Gruden resigned as the Raiders head coach after emails were leaked that included offensive and racist language.
His suit alleges that the NFL waited to leak those emails in an effort to harm his reputation and get him fired in-season. The suit also presents that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell held onto the emails and threatened to release more if the Raiders didn't fire Gruden.
Head over to this run down from ESPN to read more.