The son of billionaire Houston Texans proprietor Janice McNair plans to sue the league for $60 million for its alleged “deliberate effort to silence” him, courtroom information present.
The league allegedly obtained Robert Cary McNair Jr. sidelined from the household companies as a result of officers didn’t like him questioning its “determination making” in two high-profile participant scandals, he claimed in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom papers filed Friday.
“When Cary McNair started asking pointed questions on NFL participant scandals that probably implicated the NFL, its personnel, and its decision-making course of, the NFL labored to silence him,” he mentioned within the summons with discover, a precursor to a lawsuit.
It’s unclear when McNair, 66, was faraway from his enterprise roles.
In 2021, Texans quarterback Deshawn Watson made headlines after dealing with quite a few allegations of sexual assaults, together with 22 civil lawsuits. In 2023, a minority proprietor of the crew, Javier Loya, was charged with rape in Kentucky. The cost was later dropped as a part of a plea deal.
The league allegedly tried to close down McNair Jr.’s questions by “negotiating a restructuring of the McNair household enterprise and McNair household belief, which led to the extra pliable Cal McNair, Cary’s brother, being put in because the Proprietor’s Consultant, and to Cary McNair being stripped of his roles and employment with the McNair household enterprises,” he contended.
He was then “lower out of any significant position with McNair-associated entities in order that, amongst different issues, [he] may train no affect over NFL-related issues,” in response to courtroom papers.
McNair Jr. made headlines final 12 months when he was drawing up energy performs of his personal — trying to get his mother, Janice, 88, who’s listed as co-founder and senior chair of the Houston Texans, declared incapacitated.
He dropped that authorized case in November after a Houston choose refused to drive his mom to endure an examination to find out her psychological capability, in response to reviews.
The Houston-based McNair household is value greater than $7.3 billion. Patriarch Robert McNair made his fortune in 1999 by promoting energy firm Cogen Applied sciences to Enron for $1.5 billion.
The elder McNair, who died in 2018 at age 81, based the Texans in 1999 with a $600 million bid.
Janice, who had 4 youngsters with Robert, inherited possession of the crew after her husband’s demise and their son Cal is listed as chairman and CEO. The household additionally runs McNair Pursuits, of which McNair Jr. served as CEO.
McNair Jr. was accused in a November 2023 lawsuit of breaching his fiduciary responsibility to the household companies by secretly getting into employment agreements with out the board’s information.
The case was stayed, in response to McNair Jr.’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, who known as these allegations towards McNair Jr. frivolous and promised additional particulars of his shoppers declare towards the NFL subsequent week.
“He requested questions anybody with an obligation of oversight would ask,” Buzbee mentioned of McNair Jr.’s declare towards the NFL. “He was silenced by elimination.”
The NFL, McNair Pursuits and the Houston Texans didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
