Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling has reported that the lawsuit filed against WWE and Vince and Linda McMahon has been amended, adding three plaintiffs coming forward with allegations against former ring announcer Mel Phillips and former executive Pat Patterson.
The update comes after each of the defendant responded in court earlier this month, aiming to have the case dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction and failing to adequately allege that they had a duty of care to the plaintiffs.
The amendment adds detailed allegations of child sexual abuse on the part of Phillips and Patterson, with one of the new plaintiffs referring to an incident taking place near a then-WWF house show on July 14, 1989 among others involving the pair.
The plaintiffs have outlined a number of occasions in which they interacted with or were in the presence of Vince and Linda McMahon, in an effort to support their assertion that the couple had knowledge or should have had knowledge of the abuse.
Two key points for the case center around the allegation that at least a portion of the abuse happened within the state of Maryland, which recently established the Child Victims Act of 2023 removing time limits for victims of child sex abuse and allows civil claims against perpetrators to be pursued, and that the plaintiffs were compensated for their ring crew services provided by the company, showing that a duty of care was owed to them.