At a time when the status of McMahon at WWE is in
question over accusation of wrongdoing, he won’t have to spend any more time
protecting him against a lawsuit filed by the former head of his twice-failed
football league. Through Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal,
the former XFL Commissioner and McMahon have settled Luck’s $24 million wrongful discharge suit.
The settlement was mentioned in Friday's filing by
Luck's lawyer, in which Luck requested an order to seal the record in the case
forever. The terms are not yet known, and will probably never be. In general,
the settlement of such civil steps like this involves a wide range of
confidentiality provisions. These contracts often include a damages clause that
allows the party to pay for a full recovery, such as an estimation of the damages
that happened by the blabbing.
Last week, the settlement carried a brief settlement conference, one so
short that it made it like that settlement would not appear at all.
The case, based on an alleged breach of the
agreement of Luck to serve as commissioner of XFL 2.0, was reduced to a
possible defense. The position of McMahon depends on proving that Luck was
fired as he allowed the league to sign former NFL receiver Antonio Callaway, in
defiance of the insistence of McMahon that the league avoids players with
specific field problems. The fact that firing Luck took place two months after
the signing of the Callaway and the fact that an epidemic had forced the league
to close just a day earlier drastically weakens this argument.
In the end, Luck accepted a possible payment of fewer
than 100 cents on the dollar to remove the risk that McMahon would be
electrocuted in a bottle of the barrister. It also removes obstructs in payment
of money, ensures the best luck and immediate delivery. Appeals could have
closed the case for years. (That said, the interest in legal bias can often be
better than any investment around it.)
It is a humiliation that Luck didn’t receive all of
it. It looks fairly obvious that McMahon, once he knew that the XFL was over,
willing to reduce his losses,
even if it meant coming up with a seemingly weak defence to justify the refusal
to pay the dues. The fact that McMahon threw several other defences at
the wall in the desire that one would stick makes it further likely that
McMahon directly didn’t want to honour the agreement, and that he ordered his
lawyers to perform whatever they required to do to keep him from having to pay.
If McMahon ended up paying fewer than the full payment
that Luck was owed, it is a success. Unless, of course, the legal fees when
included in the settlement amount drag the whole thing above what it would have
amounted to just paying Luck without any fight.
Login To Leave a Comment