A Wayne County judge earlier this month denied AEW and Jon Moxley’s request to move a civil lawsuit brought by a former production worker to a Florida court. The case will stay in Michigan, where the incident at the center of the dispute took place during an AEW Dynamite event in Detroit in 2023.
Christopher Dispensa, who worked on AEW’s production team, sued AEW and Moxley (whose legal name is Jonathan Good) in May 2025. He alleges that during a match, Moxley deviated from the plan and shoved him to the floor at the May 10, 2023 show at Little Caesars Arena, allegedly leaving him with injuries that required cervical spine and shoulder surgery.
The defendants asked the court to dismiss or put the case on hold so it could be refiled in Florida, where Dispensa lives, where most of his doctors are located, and where AEW is headquartered. Judge Catherine Heise rejected the defendants’ arguments in an order filed on October 5, which followed a hearing on September 17. She wrote that the incident, the likely fact witnesses, and the arena are all in Detroit, and in fact, the courthouse is “within healthy walking distance” of the arena. Medical witnesses who are in Florida can testify remotely, the judge wrote, and moving the case to a Florida court would present the problem of having an out-of-state court apply Michigan law to an injury that happened in Michigan.
The judge also found that the defendants waited too long to make the request to move the case. They filed their motion to move the case to Florida on July 7, nearly ten months after AEW answered the complaint in September 2025. The defendants said they would not raise a three-year time-limit statute of limitations defense if the case was allowed to be litigated in Florida. But the judge expressed concern that in that scenario the case might get thrown out regardless. Heise wrote that she “is not confident that a Florida court would honor such an agreement or even an order so stating from a Michigan court.”
The order does not rule on the merits of Dispensa’s injury claims, only that the case will continue to be litigated in a Michigan court before Heise. Dispensa’s claims include counts of assault and battery against Moxley, negligence and gross negligence against both Moxley and AEW, and negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention against AEW. Dispensa has demanded a jury trial.
Representatives for AEW and attorneys for Dispensa did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report. If we receive a response, this article will be updated.
A settlement conference with the court is scheduled for December 22, 2026. The docket shows the parties met for an earlier settlement conference on July 29, 2026, which resulted in those discussions being “held for further settlement.”
Read the opinion and order by Judge Catherine L. Heise below.
