The effort to attack Commissioner Goodell’s ruling on the bounty appeals apparently has begun even before the ruling has been made.
According to WWL-TV, lawyer Peter Ginsberg filed on Wednesday a notice in the Vilma’s pending defamation case against Commissioner Roger Goodell that Vilma will be requesting an injunction blocking Vilma’s suspension if/when Goodell fails to lift Vilma’s one-year ban.
“Mr. Vilma intends to seek injunctive relief in a separate action filed in this District which we believe would be considered a related case and assigned to your Honor,” the notice to Judge Helen G. Berrigan states. “Since such an action would require immediate review, we are simply writing in advance to advise the Court and all known interested parties of our anticipated actions.”
The move suggests a couple of things. First, Vilma and Ginsberg are happy with the assignment of the defamation claim to Judge Berrigan, and they hope to finagle the assignment of the lawsuit attacking the suspension to Judge Berrigan. Second, the other three suspended players (Saints defensive end Will Smith, Packers defensive end Anthony Hargrove, and Browns linebacker Scott Fujita) may join in the same action, hoping to ride Vilma’s coattails to Judge Berrigan’s courtroom. Third, the request for injunctive relief likely will include a motion for a “preliminary injunction,” which if granted will block the league from suspending the players until the litigation is resolved.
Fourth, Vilma is getting impatient. “He must’ve gone on vacation,” Vilma said Wednesday on Twitter, an apparent slap at Goodell’s ongoing failure to rule on the bounty appeals.
It’s not known when the rulings will be issued. When they are, Vilma -- and likely the rest of the suspended players -- will be taking action.