Judges wants to see NFL bounty documents

By Brett Martel

Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, Oct. 16 2012 10:56 a.m. MDT

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FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma arrives at the NFL football headquarters to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell, in New York. Vilma is again asking a federal judge to overturn his suspension in the NFL's bounty probe of the Saints. In papers filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012, Vilma says Goodell engaged in a "farcical review" of his previously vacated disciplinary action before reaffirming the Saints linebacker's full-season ban last week.

Louis Lanzano, File, Associated Press

Summary

A federal magistrate judge has ordered NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to provide the court with documents related to the league's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

NEW ORLEANS — A federal magistrate judge has ordered NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to provide the court with documents related to the league's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

The order by Magistrate Daniel Knowles comes in response to suspended linebacker Jonathan Vilma's efforts to initiate the discovery process in his defamation case against the commissioner. Vilma says the NFL has allowed him to review only a fraction of documents related to bounty matter.

Knowles has issued a compromise order in which only the court, and not Vilma, may see the documents — "including reports of interviews with witnesses" — before a subsequent order is made on whether to allow discovery to proceed.

Vilma also re-filed a related lawsuit on Monday asking for his season-long suspension to be overturned.

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