A New Orleans Saints' season ticket holder has filed a class-action lawsuit in response to the suspensions handed out as a result of the alleged Saints' bounty program.

David Mancina is seeking damages in excess of $5 million on behalf of himself and other 2012-13 Saints' season ticket holders. The lawsuit names the NFL and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, for their respective roles in the suspension of Saints coaches Sean Payton and Joe Vitt, General Manager Mickey Loomis and players Jonathan Vilma and Will Smith, as well as the forced decision for the Saints to give up their 2012 and 2013 second-round draft choices, "thereby devastating the quality of the Saints, the value of the tickets purchased by Plaintiff...and the confidence and emotional attachment of Plaintiff, and the class, to the Saints."  Mancina claims defendants' actions were taken "without consideration for the rights of the paying ticket holder Plaintiffs."

The lawsuit says the season-ticket holders purchased their tickets expecting "the Saints would be capable of competitively fielding a contending team comprised of the finest athletes, and the best coaches, under contract ... or available to them through normal trades and draft choices, without dictatorial, unreasonable, vindictive, and unfounded, interference from the Commissioner and the League, devoid of due process."

Mancina's lawyer, Lawrence Wiedemann, a Saints fan but not a season ticket-holder, said the ticket holders have been ignored since the investigation started in 2009.

"The fans are a critical part of the NFL," he said. "The tickets you bought have been devalued tremendously and the NFL has given no consideration to the ticket holders that are the life of the NFL. There is no due process."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has no comment on the lawsuit.

—Source:  nola.com