Judge James K. Bredar ordered that the plaintiffs in the Maryland lawsuit against Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and WWE may continue under anonymity for the time being.
The plaintiffs sued the defendants, for their alleged role in covering up the child sexual abuse they endured as WWE “ring boys” at the hands of senior staff like Mel Phillips and Pat Patterson, under the Child Victims Act of 2023 allowing historic child sexual abuse survivors to seek reparation that had previously been unavailable to them.
While the case is being litigated before a decision is made to go to trial, the McMahons opposed an order granting the plaintiffs anonymity, citing that they were unduly prejudiced as public figures while they went on unknown to the public. The judge rejected those arguments and believed that the risks are not great enough to outweigh the risk to the plaintiffs if they were to have their identities known to the public.
Per the order, the issue may be litigated if and when the case goes to trial. It was acknowledged, as the McMahons had argued, that it may be harder for the defense to find witnesses with knowledge damaging to the plaintiffs’ case. But the judge deemed that the disadvantage was less severe than they had argued.
It was also agreed that the plaintiffs would be at risk of significant harm if their names were known to the public, and Bredar was convinced by the assertion that there would be a significant risk of re-traumatization, considering many closest to the plaintiffs have not even been informed of the trauma they alleged to have been subjected to.
In response to Vince McMajon’s request as to a series of conditions if the court allowed anonymity to continue, Bredar directed all parties to discuss and jointly submit a protective order within 30 days accepting some of those. A request to bar the plaintiffs and their attorneys from making public statements was rejected.
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