Ray Lewis: Super Bowl MVP Hit with Super Lawsuit

Legal developments have unfolded that many in the NFL's legal circles have seen coming for quite some time. The family of Richard Lollar, one of the victims in the double murder that occurred after last year's Super Bowl in Atlanta, filed a civil lawsuit seeking monetary compensation from the defendants in the criminal trial. The star-defendant-turned-state's-witness in that nationally publicized trial and clearly the target of the $10 million lawsuit is Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis. Fresh off of what was supposed to be a season of redemption, one in which he led his team to the pinnacle of his sport, Ray Lewis is facing yet another public legal battle that will open old wounds and deepen existing scars for all parties involved.

Although members of Lewis' party were clearly involved in a violent altercation with the victims, no one was convicted by an Atlanta jury of any felony wrongdoing. Lewis pled guilty to obstruction of justice in return for having the murder charges against him dropped by the prosecution.

In the suit, which was filed on Monday, Lewis and several other members of his party, including Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, who were acquitted of murder charges, were named as co-defendants. Although all of the men are being targeted in the suit, the media and the legal players will focus all attention on Ray Lewis, clearly the most recognizable public figure among them. The ensuing trial should serve to rekindle the debates and rhetoric surrounding the violent tendencies of professional athletes, especially those in the NFL.