Subhojeet Mukherjee on May 21, 2024
The WWE Royal Rumble Premium Live Event, held on January 27th, was highly anticipated for its potential surprises and did not disappoint, setting several records. However, controversy followed when WWE filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to prevent the release of the event’s bidding contract.
According to Wrestlenomics, WWE filed a complaint on February 16 to stop the release of an agreement between WWE and the City of San Antonio. The contract’s disclosure could reveal what the city provided to WWE for hosting the Royal Rumble at the Alamodome in 2023. WWE claims that the agreement contains proprietary information and qualifies as a trade secret, which should exempt it from Texas’s public information law.
In April 2023, city officials received approval from the state Attorney General’s office to withhold the bidding contract. However, this decision was reversed on January 17, 2024. Assistant Attorney General Michelle Garza stated in a letter that WWE did not provide sufficient factual evidence to prove that the information is confidential under Texas’s public information law.
Contracts related to the Royal Rumble 2023 event, including those involving the Alamodome, are subject to public records requests because the venue is owned and operated by the city government. As a result, agreements involving a government entity typically fall under public record laws.
WWE argues that the bidding contract should be exempt from disclosure under Texas’s public information laws, asserting that it contains proprietary information that qualifies as a trade secret. Texas law defines a trade secret broadly, covering various forms of business, scientific, technical, and financial information, regardless of whether it is tangible or intangible or how it is stored.
It was then reported that a hearing had been scheduled for May 29 at 9 am. According to Brandon Thurston on Twitter, there has been an update in the legal case involving WWE and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. The Attorney General’s office responded to WWE’s complaint, which sought to prevent the release of certain information related to the Royal Rumble 2023 event in San Antonio, including details about the site fee paid by the government.
The response from the Attorney General’s office includes a general denial of all allegations in WWE’s petition. The office has asked the judge to declare that the information in question is subject to disclosure under public records laws. Additionally, the Attorney General’s office has requested that WWE be held responsible for all court costs associated with the case.
”UPDATE: Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office responded yesterday in this case. The AG office has entered “a general denial to all allegations in Plaintiff’s [WWE’s] Petition”, which attempts to block from release to Wrestlenomics certain information related to the Royal Rumble 2023 event in San Antonio, including information related to the site fee the government paid for the event. The AG asks for the judge to declare “the information at issue to be subject to disclosure” and that WWE be responsible for all court costs.”
This hearing will likely determine the outcome of the lawsuit, potentially in WWE’s favor, if a default judgment is granted due to the absence of a timely response from the Texas Attorney General’s office. However, given the recent response from the Attorney General’s office denying WWE’s allegations and requesting disclosure of the information, the case will now proceed with both parties presenting their arguments. We’ll have to wait and see what will become of the lawsuit in the end.
Are you shocked to see why WWE would go to such a length to prevent the records being shown? Let us know in the comments section below!
May 21, 2024 12:27 pm
Disqus Comments Loading...
