Michael Irvin withdrew his lawsuit against Marriott Hotels on Monday, according to court documents, but his case could still move forward after being refiled in Arizona, according to a report from NBC Sports.
Irvin’s legal team previously filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Marriott International after Irvin was removed from Super Bowl sportscasting duties following an allegation of misconduct by a employee of a hotel in Phoenix. Irvin’s lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed Monday without prejudice, according to court documents obtained by NBC 5.
According to NBC Sports, the case was refiled in Arizona because Marriott does not technically own the property on which the incident occurred and the company that owns and operates the hotel does not have enough ties to the hotel. Texas.
Irvin’s attorney, Levi McCathern, said last week he intended to release a video of his client interacting with an Arizona hotel employee. McCathern has scheduled an 11 a.m. press conference in Dallas on Tuesday where he and Irvin will address reporters and release the video.
After being allowed to view the video at the Marriott prosecutor’s offices last week, McCathern described the video at a press conference, saying the meeting between Irvin and the woman called “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit was Lasted less than two minutes and nothing inappropriate happened.
McCathern complained that Marriott had not adequately provided him with video footage of the encounter and said he was not authorized to have a copy of the video.
A federal judge in Dallas on Friday ordered Marriot to give Irvin’s legal team video of the encounter “without editing.” Marriot filed a motion Friday in federal court asking the judge to protect the privacy and safety of its hotel employees and guests by preventing the video from being released to the public.
On Monday, Marriott gave Irvin’s team a copy of that video and promised to produce any other relevant footage on Tuesday.
In his lawsuit, Irvin said that upon returning to the hotel, he briefly greeted, shook hands and spoke with several fans, including the wife, for a few minutes before going to his room alone. The lawsuit claims a hotel manager reported “false information” to the NFL, accusing Irvin of inappropriate behavior toward a hotel employee. Irvin was then “shockingly awakened by a security team” and kicked out of the hotel “without any explanation or question”, according to the lawsuit.
“Contrary to the public statements of Irvin and his attorney, the facts will eventually show that Irvin made unwelcome sexual advances against an employee of the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel, an employee who did not know who Irvin was and who, in reporting his despicable behavior, sought nothing more than to be free from further harassment,” Marriott attorneys wrote in Friday’s filing.
Marriot International has not yet responded to NBC 5’s requests for comment.