Natalie Harris Defends NFL Owner’s Former Assistant In Proceedings Related To India Defamation

Washington Football Team majority owner Dan Snyder is embroiled in a dispute with the team’s minority owners over their desire to sell their share of the team. Amidst this ongoing dispute, a website in India published several baseless articles linking Snyder to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In response, Snyder filed a defamation suit in India and headed to U.S. federal court, seeking documents that his lawyers said would prove a conspiracy to plant the stories. Snyder named his former executive assistant Mary Ellen Blair as a respondent in his federal court petition seeking discovery for use in the foreign action. Snyder’s lawyers claimed to have evidence showing that Blair called two team employees and told them they could “make a lot of money” for damaging information about Snyder and that an upcoming story in the Washington Post would detail how Snyder does “dirty” and “illegal” things.  Ms. Blair denied the allegations and the subject Washington Post story did not include any of the alleged details about Snyder.  Ms. Blair argued that Snyder’s petition was an improper attempt to harass her and discourage her from speaking to the press about her experience working for the Washington Football Team. The judge disagreed, and granted Snyder’s request to issue subpoenas to Ms. Blair seeking records and her deposition. Ms. Blair then hired Natalie Harris to represent her, and the matter was swiftly resolved on mutually agreeable terms. Snyder subsequently dismissed the petition against Ms. Blair with prejudice. READ PRESS COVERAGE HERE