BOSTON — A group of New England Patriots fans have sued the NFL in an effort to recover the first-round draft pick that was taken from the team as punishment for the “Deflategate” scandal.
The suit filed Tuesday in federal court in Boston says the NFL made an “arbitrary and capricious” decision to revoke the draft pick even though there is no proof that the team deliberately deflated footballs.
The complaint says the league and Commissioner Roger Goodell relied on “false premises and biased ‘investigations’ and untrue ‘facts,’ ” to reach their decision to take away the team’s first-round draft pick in this month’s draft.
The fans’ complaint alleges common law fraud, negligence, intentional inflection of emotional distress, and racketeering.
The team and the league did not respond to requests for comment.
