XFL 2020: Luck and McMahon have reached a settlement.
Punishing like a hangover, the legal action between former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck and former owner Vince McMahon had left a headache and a bad taste in the mouth for XFL fans who were still trying to get over the closure of the 2020 XFL season, and subsequent bankruptcy of the football league they loved.
Discovering the rift between Luck and McMahon was like finding out your parents didn’t actually love each other.
Reported last week, the matter was finally headed for a trial scheduled to begin on July 11, 2022. However, as per Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, Luck and McMahon have reached a settlement.
As reported last week, the lawsuit saw Luck asking for his contract to be paid, consisting of damages of $15.9M in base salary, $8M in guaranteed bonuses and more in insurance premiums. The terms of the settlement are unknown at this time.
Pre-trial legal action had pared down the decision to one point of contention, where McMahon’s legal defense claimed Luck acted recklessly, in contravention of an order by McMahon to not sign players with criminal charges against them, by signing wide receiver Anthony Callaway to the Tampa Bay Vipers in January 2020.
Aside from the Callaway issue, McMahon’s original defense of the lawsuit claimed Luck had used his company phone for personal matters, abandoned his position at the onset of the pandemic, and disclosed confidential information to his brother-in-law, Will Wilson. However, a pretrial ruling made by U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden dismissed all of McMahon’s defenses except the Callaway matter.
In accordance with a report by Sports Business Journal, the settlement was recently referred to in a filing by Luck’s attorney, which sought a judicial order to permanently seal the records of the case. “The parties reached an agreement to resolve this case on June 16, 2022,” Luck’s lawyer Paul Dobrowski wrote. McMahon’s lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, did not oppose the motion.
It’s truly time to close this chapter of XFL 2020 and look forward to a new XFL, with new ownership and management.
