WWE, TKO Group Holdings, Vince McMahon and Linda McMahon have lost their constitutional challenge to Maryland’s Child Victims Act, allowing the “Ring Boys” sexual abuse lawsuit to continue.

U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar denied the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings on Monday. In a 26-page opinion, he found that applying the 2023 law to the defendants does not violate the U.S. Constitution. The law removed time limits for civil claims involving childhood sexual abuse.

The lawsuit involves eight men identified as John Does, who allege they were sexually abused as minors during the 1980s and 1990s while working in connection with WWE events.

They accuse former ring announcer and ring crew chief Melvin Phillips Jr. of recruiting, grooming and abusing underage boys. They also allege that Vince and Linda McMahon knew about the abuse and failed to intervene. Phillips died in 2012.

The defendants have denied the central allegations. Monday’s decision addresses their constitutional challenge and does not establish whether the alleged abuse occurred or whether the defendants are responsible.

The defense argued that being required to answer claims dating back decades violated their due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. They pointed to the deaths of key witnesses, including all three alleged abusers.

Bredar acknowledged those difficulties but noted that “at least some others who allegedly have knowledge of the abuse are still living.”

He also wrote that the defendants “do not grapple at all with rational basis review” and did not “show how their particular hardships make the CVA arbitrary or irrational.”

The judge rejected a separate argument that the law was punitive and therefore violated the Constitution’s Ex Post Facto Clause.

“Its primary aim is not to punish the perpetrators of sexual abuse, but rather to allow the survivors to bring childhood claims that were lost through no fault of their own, and often due to the actions of their abusers,” he wrote.

Bredar concluded that the act “is a civil remedy to which the Ex Post Facto Clause does not apply.”

However, he recognised the practical challenges involved in a case concerning events alleged to have happened so long ago.

“The Court is acutely aware that the revival of decades-old allegations poses difficult evidentiary issues for both parties,” Bredar wrote. “And it may be hard for Defendants to muster an effective defense where evidence is stale, memories are frail, and witnesses are deceased. But the Court’s role here is to interpret the United States Constitution and to resolve disputes that arise under it.”

Greg Gutzler, the DiCello Levitt partner leading the plaintiffs’ litigation, welcomed the decision in a press release.

“This ruling is a significant victory for our clients and for other survivors of childhood sexual abuse who have waited years for the opportunity to seek justice,” he said. “Trauma does not follow a legal deadline, and Maryland’s Child Victims Act recognizes that reality.”

The Maryland Supreme Court upheld the law under the state constitution in 2025. Bredar largely denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss in December 2025 and allowed the plaintiffs to continue using John Doe pseudonyms in May.

A telephone conference with counsel is scheduled for November 17 at 10 a.m. to set the timetable for the remaining proceedings.

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