The bounty scandal that has loomed over the New Orleans Saints this season has taken a range of twists and turns.

The NFL suspended the team's head coach for a full season and is still dealing with the aftermath of suspending four players who were allegedly involved in the program. Audio and video has been released, suspensions were overturned and reinstated and players have accused the league of false accusations and abuses of power.

The saga took another strange turn on Tuesday, when a local New Orleans resident and Saints fan filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell due to the bounty scandal.

 As reported by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the fan, named David Mancina, filed the lawsuit on "behalf of himself and 2012-13 New Orleans Saints season-ticket holders" and is asking for $5 million in damages.

According to the report, the lawsuit says that the season ticket holders purchased their tickets under the impression "the Saints would be capable of competitively fielding a contending team comprised of the finest athletes, and the best coaches, under contract ... or available to them through normal trades and draft choices, without dictatorial, unreasonable, vindictive, and unfounded, interference from the Commissioner and the League, devoid of due process."

Goodell issued suspensions to coaches and players who were allegedly involved in the scandal after the league announced earlier in the year that they had obtained a wide range of information detailing a bounty system by the Saints that stretched from the 2009 season to 2011. The report said that up to 27 Saints players were involved and that it was organized and run by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

Some of the claims included bounties on quarterbacks Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, as well as cash payouts for injuries and big hits.

Linebacker Jonathan Vilma and head coach Sean Payton were suspended for the season, while general manager Mickey Loomis, assistant coach Joe Vitt and players Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove and Will Smith were all suspended for numerous games.

Vilma has denied his alleged role in the system and had his season-long suspension overturned a few weeks by an appeals panel. The players were all eligible to play the last few weeks after the panel overturned their suspensions, but they were later reinstated by Goodell.

The reasoning for the panel ruling was that Goodell had gone too far in his authority by hearing the players' appeals of their punishments for participating in the bounty program. He could only suspend players based on intent to injure, and not due to secret monetary compensation.

The lawsuit says that the suspensions were made "without consideration for the rights of the paying ticket holder Plaintiffs."

Furthermore, the lawsuit says that the docking of draft choices by the league also hurt the ticket holders, "thereby devastating the quality of the Saints, the value of the tickets purchased by Plaintiff ... and the confidence and emotional attachment of Plaintiff, and the class, to the Saints," the suit says.

"The fans are a critical part of the NFL," said Mancina's lawyer, Lawrence Wiedemann. "When it comes to changing the complexion of your team, you have no input. You're not even notified or considered ... that's just a complete blasé attitude."

The Saints this season have gone 1-4 and lost their first four games of the season. The team sits in last place in the NFC South and has been outscored by its opponents this season.