Jon Gruden wins battle to get his day in court

A Nevada judge has ruled that former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden's case against the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell can move forward. District Court Judge Nancy Allf also denied a motion to compel the case into binding arbitration under the terms of Gruden's NFL contract.

Attorneys for the NFL and Goodell presented their positions separately on each motion, clearing the case to proceed via trial.

The NFL said in a statement it plans to appeal Wednesday's ruling.

"We believe Coach Gruden's claims should have been compelled to arbitration, and we will file an appeal of the Court's determination," the league statement read.

Gruden was present in court but did not take questions, offering a brief comment while exiting the courtroom: "We are going to let the process take care of itself. Good luck to the Raiders. Go Raiders."

Barring other issues or a settlement between parties, moving forward with the case opens the possibility of the legal discovery phase and bring public parts, or all of the investigation, into the Washington NFL franchise.

Gruden resigned as head coach of the Raiders in October following a backlash from racially-charged and insensitive email messages.

Gruden claims the messages that were all dated to previous years were leaked by the NFL as part of an "orchestrated" and "malicious" campaign. Gruden filed his lawsuit in the district court of Nevada's Clark County in November.

The two-time Raiders coach had six seasons remaining on a 10-year contract worth $100m.

Messages published by The Wall Street Journal and other outlets were captured by the NFL as part of an investigation into the culture of the Commanders – then known as the Washington Football Team.

Many of the messages reported to be from Gruden