D.C. attorney general sues Daniel Snyder, Commanders, NFL

By Mark Maske and Nicki Jhabvala
November 10, 2022 at 1:13 p.m. EST

The office of D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) said Thursday it is filing a consumer protection lawsuit against the Washington Commanders, Daniel Snyder, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, accusing them of colluding to deceive and mislead customers about an investigation of the team’s workplace to maintain the franchise’s fan base in pursuit of revenue.

“Faced with public outrage over detailed and widespread allegations of sexual misconduct and a persistently hostile work environment at the Team, Defendants made a series of public statements to convince District consumers that this dysfunctional and misogynistic conduct was limited and that they were fully cooperating with an independent investigation,” the lawsuit says. “These statements were false and calculated to mislead consumers so they would continue to support the Team financially without thinking that they were supporting such misconduct.”

The lawsuit is being filed in the civil division of the D.C. Superior Court. It alleges the team and league violated the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act with “public misrepresentations, omissions, and ambiguities of material fact.” Racine’s office said it is seeking “financial penalties under the CPPA for every incident in which the Commanders, Mr. Snyder, the NFL, and Commissioner Goodell lied to District residents dating back to July 2020,” adding that the defendants “could face millions of dollars in penalties.”

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Michael Brice-Saddler and Liz Clarke contributed to this report.

By Mark Maske
Mark Maske covers the NFL for The Washington Post. He has covered the NFL and the Washington Football Team since 1998. He previously covered baseball, the Baltimore Orioles, the effort to bring a major league team to Washington, and colleges. Twitter https://twitter.com/MarkMaske

By Nicki Jhabvala
Nicki Jhabvala joined The Washington Post in July 2020 after spending six years covering the Denver Broncos, first for the Denver Post (2014-2018) and later the Athletic (2018-2020). She has also been an editor and producer for the New York Times, Sports on Earth and Sports Illustrated. Twitter https://twitter.com/NickiJhabvala