NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Saints linebacker Jon Vilma has filed a motion urging a federal judge to reject the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s motion to dismiss the Saints linebacker’s defamation lawsuit.
Vilma’s motion filed Friday says Goodell acted with reckless disregard for the truth when basing initial allegations about Vilma upon one fired Saints assistant whose testimony has been inconsistent and challenged by other witnesses in the NFL’s bounty probe of the Saints.
The motion centers on Goodell’s public comments that Vilma held up $10,000 cash in a team meeting in 2010, offering it to anyone who knocked Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner out of a playoff game.
During recent NFL appeal hearings in the bounty case, former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams testified he never saw any money.
Vilma’s suspension was thrown out Tuesday.
