AEW, Tony Khan, Ian Riccaboni File Motion To Enforce Arbitration In Kevin Kelly & Tate Twins Lawsuit

AEW, Tony Khan, and Ian Riccaboni have filed a response to the lawsuit filed by Kevin Kelly & the Tate Twins, seeking to have arbitration clauses enforced. As previously reported, Kelly and the Tate Twins (aka The Boys) filed suit against AEW, Tony Khan, and Ian Riccaboni on September 6th. The suit seeks to void the trios’ arbitration clauses in their contracts and certify a class-action lawsuit, arguing that AEW is misclassifying its talent as independent contractors rather than employees. Kelly is also alleging Riccaboni and AEW of defamation in regard comments by Riccaboni about Kelly’s support of Sound of Freedom, while the Tates accuse Tony Khan of defamation in regard to claims that they no-showed events.

POST Wrestling’s John Pollock reports that the defendants have filed a 40-page motion in the lawsuit, requesting that the claims be dismissed due to improper venue and to enforce the clause in their AEW contracts that dictate arbitration. The suit argues that the case should be tired in Florida where AEW is based and where the contracts are executed. The suit was filed on August 30 in the Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas.

The response goes on to argue that the plaintiffs agreed to resolve all disputes in Duval County, Florida per their contracts, which state that disputes will be privately resolved in arbitration.

The response goes on to note that moving the case to Florida will benefit Riccaboni as it will potentially incur him greater costs to defend himself in Pennsylvania, writing:

“Defendant Riccaboni has a strong interest in having this case tried in the Middle District of Florida because of his contractual relationship and defense agreement with Defendant AEW and its counsel. If required to retain his own counsel against Plaintiffs defending against a class action case in federal court, Defendant Riccaboni would incur significant and burdensome expenses. Moreover, because Plaintiffs chose to bootstrap claims against Defendant Riccaboni to their contract-related lawsuit against AEW, Defendant Riccaboni would incur the unnecessary expense of having to pay his own counsel to respond to a 267-paragraph complaint, assert his position in all motion practice conducted throughout the pendency of this action, and defend him through dispositive motions and trial.”