Michael Irvin withdrew his lawsuit against Marriott Hotels Monday, court documents show, but his case may still move forward after being reconsidered in Arizona, According to a report by NBC Sports.
Irvin’s legal team earlier filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Marriott International after Irvin was sidelined from Super Bowl duties as a sports commentator following an allegation of misconduct from a hotel employee in Phoenix. Irvin’s lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed Monday without prejudice, according to court files obtained by NBC 5.
According to NBC SportsThe case was re-filed in Arizona because Marriott does not technically own the property where the incident occurred and the company that owns and operates the hotel does not have enough connections to Texas.
Irvin’s attorney, Levi McAtherin, said last week that he plans to release video of his client interacting with an employee at an Arizona hotel. McCathrine had scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. in Dallas on Tuesday where he and Irvin would address reporters and play the video.
After being allowed to view the video at Marriott’s attorneys’ offices last week, McKathern described the video at a news conference, saying that the encounter between Irvin and the woman referred to as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit lasted less than two minutes and that nothing inappropriate happened.
McKathern complained that Marriott did not adequately provide him with video footage of the encounter and said he was not allowed to obtain a copy of the video.
A Dallas federal judge on Friday ordered Mario to provide Irvin’s legal team video of the encounter “without editing.” Marriott filed an application Friday in federal court asking the judge to protect the privacy and safety of the hotel’s employees and guests by preventing the video from being released to the public.
On Monday, Marriott gave Team Irvin a copy of that video and promised to produce any other related footage on Tuesday.
In his lawsuit, Irvin said that when he returned to the hotel, he briefly greeted, shook hands, and spoke with several fans, including the woman, for a few minutes before going to his room alone. The suit alleges that a hotel manager reported “false information” to the NFL, accusing Ervin of inappropriate behavior toward a hotel employee. The lawsuit said Irvin was then “shockedly woken up by security staff” and removed from the hotel “without any explanation or questions.”
“Contrary to public statements by Irvin and his attorneys, the facts will eventually emerge that Irvin made unwanted 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, asked for nothing more than Freedom from further harassment,” Marriott’s attorneys wrote in the request on Friday.
Marriott International has not yet responded to NBC5’s requests for comment.
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