Saints Fans Sue NFL Over ‘No-Call’ in Super Bowl Playoff Game

Fans of the New Orleans Saints have filed a lawsuit against the NFL regarding the recent playoff overtime loss against the LA Rams.

Plaintiffs in the Saints lawsuit claim that a controversial no-call by referees resulted in the team’s loss.

Several season ticket holders filed the suit on behalf of the New Orleans Saints National Fan Base and other season ticket holders.

The petition aims to force the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell to take action and “investigate any and all potential causes of action that may exist against the NFL and the NFL Referees Associations.”

“The NFL has an obligation to its fans and ticket holders to enforce its own rules such that the integrity of the game is not called into question,” plaintiff attorneys’ said in a letter to Goodell. “The NFL’s rules allow for you to take action so that an irreparable harm does not occur by allowing the outcome of the Saints-­Rams game to remain intact.”

The no-call in question occurred in the fourth quarter of the playoff game in New Orleans on Jan. 20.

The alleged pass interference occurred when Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman made contact with Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis.

A pass from Saints quarterback Drew Brees was headed towards Lewis when the contact from Robey-Coleman pushed Lewis to the ground, but Robey-Coleman appeared to not make any attempt at the football.

After this play, the Saints kicked a field goal and the ball was given back to the Rams. With 1:41 left in the fourth quarter, the Rams kicked a field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Rams then won the game in overtime after intercepting a pass from Brees and scoring a 57 yard field goal.

This win secured the Rams a place in Super Bowl LIII, but Saints fans claim in their lawsuit that the win was a result of the referees’ failure to call pass interference in the fourth quarter.

According to the NFL lawsuit, had referees made the call, the Saints would have been given a first down and they may have been able to run down the clock before their field goal – diminishing the Rams’ chance of tying the game and winning in overtime.

However, Rams fans and players disagree – arguing that the Rams played a good game and won the match based on their own merits.

“It’s just one of those things that’s a slippery slope, and it’s an excuse. [However] you cut it. And the reality is they got football after that snap. They played in overtime with the football. […] They didn’t score; we did,” Rams player Andrew Whitworth said on the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen Show. “We can argue about it all day, but they had an opportunity to win the game and we won it.”

The Saints fans’ petition cites NFL Rule 17 which allows the league to investigate and take corrective action “if any club action, non­participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which the commissioner deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game.”

Rule 17 allows the commissioner to impose fines, suspend those involved, and reverse the result of the game or reschedule the match “either from the beginning or from the point at which the extraordinary act occurred.”

Saints fans and season ticket holders Tommy Badeaux and Candis Lambert claim that they and other New Orleans fans have been left “bereft and with no faith” in the NFL after the no-call scandal.

They claim that the issue had caused emotional anguish as well as monetary loss for season ticket holders who purchased tickets under the assumption that games would be monitored with “integrity and fairness.”

“Our plaintiffs and the entire fan base simply want Roger Goodell and the NFL to do the right thing in this situation, and if for whatever reason he refuses, we have set the wheels in motion to compel him to do so using the legal remedies afforded to us under the law,” plaintiff attorneys said in a statement, according to Law360.

Plaintiffs are represented by Frank J. D’Amico Jr. of The Law Offices of Frank D’Amico Jr. APLC.

The Saints Playoff Loss Class Action Lawsuit is Tommy Badeaux, et al. v. Roger Goodell, in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana.

UPDATE: On Jan. 28, 2019, the NFL told a Louisiana federal court that Saints fans can’t file a class action lawsuit over an allegedly bad call made by a referee that they say lost the Saints a playoff game.