Major League Wrestling filed an amended complaint earlier this week. Nevertheless, since the earlier MLW lawsuit was dismissed and the amendment was necessary, the legal situation for WWE has been looking fairly good. Sadly, the good days are coming to an end, at least temporarily, as WWE discovered last week that there was one lawsuit it couldn’t win.
In 2021, Jackson Parsons sued WWE for a traffic accident that happened in July 2019. WWE lost the lawsuit. Toward the middle of February, the lawsuit made some progress. On February 27, a brief jury trial took place, and on March 3, the verdict was announced. While the jury found Parsons to be 65 percent at fault for the occurrence, it also found WWE to be 35 percent at fault. As a result, the court ordered WWE to pay Parsons $331,800 in damages.
A certain sum of money was given out depending on how much of the accident was WWE’s fault. Parsons claimed in his complaint that he had experienced “pain and suffering,” for which he was compensated with $76,500, as well as “future pain and suffering,” for which he was given a settlement of $401,500, falling short of his goal by $69,700. Parsons was hurt while bicycling when he was struck by a van driven by Gaitan Thomas of the WWE.
WWE’s new collaboration
Thomas, who WWE referred to in legal documents as an “independent contractor” for the promotion as opposed to an employee, was driving a commercial van when the incident took place. Due to the collision, Parsons required ankle surgery. After failing to reach an agreement, he later tried to settle with WWE in December 2020, asking for more than $1 million, and he filed a lawsuit.
Prior to WWE’s collaboration with renowned online bookmaker DraftKings, wagering on WWE events was prohibited under American gambling laws. Instead, the website provided free-to-join betting pools where winners would receive a percentage of a pre-determined prize.
