Patriots fans sue NFL in effort to get first-round pick back

— -- BOSTON -- A group of New England Patriots fans has 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.

"This case is brought by New England Patriots fans on behalf of all Patriots fans who believe the New England Patriots professional football team were harmed by the Defendants' arbitrary and capricious decision to revoke the Patriots first round draft choice in the April 28, 2016 NFL Draft," the suit, signed by Seth Carey, a Maine attorney, states.

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 pick in this month's draft.

The complaint from the seven fans, from Florida, New Jersey and Massachusetts, alleges common law fraud, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and racketeering.

The Patriots lost the pick, a fourth-round pick in 2017 and were fined $1 million after a league investigation found that quarterback Tom Brady was generally aware that footballs may have been partially deflated before the 2015 AFC Championship Game.

The fans also accuse Patriots owner Robert Kraft of not fighting hard enough to get the draft pick back.

The team and the league did not respond to requests for comment.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.