Just when we thought that the drama between the Arizona Cardinals and former team executive Terry McDonough was over following a ruling in his arbitration claims against the team, there is more.
McDonough, unable to file suit himself because of arbitration, instead now has had his family file suit in Arizona Superior Court, according to ESPN. The family is suing the Cardinals, owner Michael Bidwill, the team’s crisis communications firm Counterpoint Strategies and its owner Jim McCarthy, and team attorney Don Johnsen and his law firm Gallagher & Kennedy for defamation, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
McDonough is also suing Counterpoint, McCarthy, Johnson and his firm.
The arbtitrator in the case against the Cardinals ruled the team must pay McDonough $3 million for defamatory comments the team publily made through McCarthy in response to his grievance against the team.
Included in the statement were accusations of spousal abuse and neglect of his disabled adult daughter.
After McDonough was let go in 2023 following the hiring of new general manager Monti Ossenfort, he filed the grievance, claiming wronful termination and that he was retaliated against after he opposed the use of burner phones to impermissably communicate with then-GM Steve Keim during his suspension following his guilty plea to extreme DUI in 2018.
That is when the team released its response to the grievance.
In arbitration, all claims were dismissed except for the amended claim for defamation, which led to the $3 million award for McDonough.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out because it will be the court system and not in the league’s arbitration system.
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