At a hearing Monday in Connecticut Superior Court, Judge David Bothwell ordered the release of Janel Grant’s medical records from Dr. Carlon Colker and his clinic, Peak Wellness, but rejected her bid to depose Colker and his staff for now.
Grant, a former WWE employee, filed the bill of discovery more than a year ago, a procedural step in state court that allows a party to seek evidence before deciding whether to file a full lawsuit. She says Vince McMahon directed her to Colker’s clinic repeatedly and that she was given unidentified supplements and intravenous infusions there, claims Colker has denied.
On the deposition requests, Bothwell reasoned that testimony under oath could be taken later if Grant ultimately files a lawsuit against Colker or Peak Wellness. Connecticut case law, the judge noted, allows pre-suit depositions only when a witness might become unavailable — for example, because of illness or death — and the judge found no such urgency here.
Colker’s side continued to assert the medical and billing records have already been turned over, while Grant’s lawyers say what was provided so far is still incomplete and inconsistent or possibly altered.
The judge’s order covers not only medical and billing records but also certain communications between the Greenwich-based clinic and McMahon or WWE. Defense lawyer Frank Silvestri signaled he would challenge the communications requests, and Bothwell said the court would consider those objections.
“Certainly a number of [the document requests] seem to us to be totally unrelated to what they would need to bring a lawsuit against [Colker and the clinic],” Silvestri said at the remote hearing, which was livestreamed by the court. “Does your honor’s ruling preclude us from asserting any objections?” he asked the judge.
“No,” Bothwell said. “I’m going to grant the motion. As you go through, if you have specific objections, you can obviously raise those objections.”
“I’m going to say that the medical records — you certainly can file an objection, but the medical records are going to be turned over,” Bothwell added. “Now, with regard to the communications [records], specific objections to that, those will be entertained. But in terms of the medical records, the court is going to order that those be turned over.”
Silvestri said: “We’ll produce [the medical records again]. We’ll look and see if there’s anything else that might be considered as a medical record.” He said that the defendants reserved the right to file objections to producing the communications records.
Video of Judge David Bothwell stating his decision in a remote hearing with the Superior Court of Connecticut related to Grant v. Colker on Monday, with attorneys for Janel Grant and Dr. Carlon Colker present.
The judge also clarified to the parties that billing records related to Grant’s medical records should also be turned over.
Bothwell suggested the dispute over medical and billing records may stem from a misunderstanding about the clinic’s billing process and urged the sides to work it out without further intervention.
In May, the court rejected Colker’s attempt to have the petition dismissed.
Grant is also pursuing a separate high-profile federal lawsuit against McMahon and WWE, alleging that McMahon sexually assaulted and sex trafficked her and that WWE was negligent. McMahon has denied the allegations. The central procedural question currently in that case is whether the $3 million nondisclosure agreement she signed with McMahon, which contains an arbitration clause, will push the dispute out of public court.
In yet another related matter, Colker has sued Grant’s attorney, Ann Callis, for defamation. That case is also ongoing.
