Jonathan Vilma, the Saints linebacker who was recently suspended for the upcoming season in relation to the New Orleans bounty scandal, has filed a lawsuit with U.S. district court against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for defamation. The lawsuit includes five counts of libel, five counts of slander, and one count of intentional infliction of emotional distress, or outrageous conduct, claiming that Goodell has spread false statements about Vilma’s involvement in an alleged bounty program without ever releasing any evidence or naming sources to back up the claims.
After news of the lawsuit broke, Vilma tweeted, “As I’ve said before..I NEVER PAID, NOR INTENDED TO PAY ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY,TO ANY PLAYER FOR INTENTIONALLY HURTING AN OPPONENT.” He followed that tweet with another, stating that “maybe this will get some [people's] attention.” And it certainly has, as news of the suit and opinions about Vilma have run rampant on social media networks this afternoon.
The lawsuit, which is available here courtesy of CBS Sports, alleges that Goodell “did not reveal, and despite repeated requests from, among others, Vilma, has never revealed any evidence purportedly corroborating that a Bounty Program existed [and] that Vilma participated in any such Bounty Program.”
It goes on to state that “Vilma never ‘pledged,’ made or received payments of any kind encouraging or resulting from an opposing player being injured.” The suit is asking for unspecified damges. As is always the case with a public figure suing for libel, the plaintiff (in this case, Vilma) needs to prove actual malice.
What that means is that Vilma’s lawyers will need to show evidence that Goodell either had knowledge that the information was false (in other words, that he lied), or that there was reckless disregard for truth or falsity. Reckless disregard can be overlooked if the information was urgent to release, if the sources were reliable, and if there was a likely probability that the information was true based on wherever Goodell received it from.
This is purely speculation, but it would seem that Vilma and his lawyers will be attempting to prove reckless disregard, and this means that Goodell will have to name his sources and prove that it was a pressing matter to get the information related to the bounty scandal out to the public, assuming the claims were false. It seems that the NFLPA will finally get what they’ve been asking for: evidence of a bounty program.We will keep you updated as the lawsuit plays out.
