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FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma arrives at the NFL football headquarters to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell, in New York. Vilma is again asking a federal judge to overturn his suspension in the N Louis Lanzano, File, Associated Press
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FILE - From left are NFL football players Jonathan Vilma, in 2011; Anthony Hargrove, in 2010; Will Smith, in 2011; and Scott Fujita, in 2011. All four players punished in the NFL's bounty investigation have filed appeals with the league. People familiar w File, Associated Press
By Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — A federal magistrate judge has ordered NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to provide the court with documents related to the league's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

The order by Magistrate Daniel Knowles comes in response to suspended linebacker Jonathan Vilma's efforts to initiate the discovery process in his defamation case against the commissioner. Vilma says the NFL has allowed him to review only a fraction of documents related to bounty matter.

Knowles has issued a compromise order in which only the court, and not Vilma, may see the documents — "including reports of interviews with witnesses" — before a subsequent order is made on whether to allow discovery to proceed.

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Vilma also re-filed a related lawsuit on Monday asking for his season-long suspension to be overturned.

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