As expected, the NFL Players Association filed a lawsuit against the NFL to vacate a decision made that upholds Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s suspension for the remainder of the season.
ESPN reported that the union filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Monday morning.
Peterson’s appeal was denied by NFL appeals officer Harold Henderson last Friday. The suit claims that the decision was unfair under the collective bargaining agreement reached in 2011.
Moreover, on Monday, ABC News obtained an audio recording of the Vikings player speaking with someone who is believed to be Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations.
In the recording, the voice Peterson’s lawyers claim is Vincent’s, tells the running back that he will only be suspended for two games, rather than the ban later given by Roger Goodell.
Peterson, 29, was suspended by the commissioner last month following his no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of reckless assault. He was indicted by a Texas grand jury in September on a felony charge of injuring his 4-year-old son while disciplining him with a switch.
The players’ union argued that Peterson was retroactively punished under the league’s new personal conduct policy related to domestic violence, which was introduced after he injured his child.
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com