Following his lifetime ban in Nevada for allegedly running from a pre-fight drug test, MMA legend Wanderlei Silva is suing the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC), claiming the regulatory body has exceeded their authority.
Silva filed the lawsuit through his attorney, Ross Goodman, who stated the following:
“The NSAC, like any other agency, is a ‘creature’ of statue and attempts to expand jurisdiction over subject matter not conferred by the legislature is without authority of the law and void. Here, the legislature clearly defined the NSAC’s powers to ‘issuing and revoking licenses.’ Contrary to the wrongful action against [Silva], there exists no statutory authority, nor does the NSAC point to any, which allows it to expand its limited jurisdiction to include disciplining people who are not licensed by the agency.”
Silva’s claim is that the NAC ignored two statutes — NAC 467.860 and NAC 467.110, which as he interprets it, states that only licenses are subject to penalty for failure to comply with testing protocol in the state.
NAC 467.860 states, “A licensee who violates any provision of this section is subject to disciplinary action by the Commission.” In addition, NAC 467.110 reads, “The Executive Director of a Commissioner may institure disciplinary proceedings described in NRS 467.110 to 467.117…against a person who is licensed pursuant to this chapter by filing a complaint with this chapter.”
Silva stated in his complaint,”Yet, the NSAC refused to provide any explanation for exceeding its jurisdiction when summarily denying [Silva]’s Motion to Dismiss. This was no surprise given that the NSAC also misled the public by inserting the full text of the statute while intentionally omitting these licensure provisions. The agency acted rogue by taking action outside of the limited jurisdiction against someone who was not licensed, which requires a reversal of the NSAC’s Order.”
In filing suit against the NAC, Silva is essentially attempting to get his lifetime ban from the commission removed.
Below is the full complaint issued by Silva against the NAC:
A-14-710453-J-6563731 MPA Petitioner s Memorandum of Points and Authorities
Talk about this on our official FACEBOOK page, or on our official TWITTER page. You can also talk about it in our popular FORUMS.