Jim Turner to Sue Ted Wells for Defamation in Dolphins Bullying Scandal Report

Former Miami Dolphins offensive line coach Jim Turner plans to file a defamation lawsuit against Ted Wells after he was named in the 2014 bullying scandal report involving Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin.   

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Turner will file the lawsuit against Wells and his law firm in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida: "In the lawsuit, Turner alleges the NFL commissioned Wells and Paul Weiss to write a report that would placate the public and assign blame to certain individuals such as Turner, while the law firm was well-paid and well-positioned for future work on NFL cases such as the one that turned out to be Deflategate."

The Dolphins fired Turner—and head trainer Kevin O'Neill—after Wells' report was released in February 2014. The 144-page report (Warning: Report contains NSFW language) claims Turner tolerated and, in some instances, participated in the harassment of Miami players and tried to convince Martin to publicly defend Incognito. 

Turner has been vocal in his dislike of Wells and the way he conducted his investigation, condemning the process during a May 2015 interview on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio (via CBSSports.com's John Breech): "Wells is not a good human being. When I did not give him the story he wanted, he targeted me as a part of a problem in Miami. He's not an independent investigator. He's not looking at both sides of the situation."

Incognito has also spoken out against Wells, telling Bob Glauber of Newsday the process left out key pieces of information: "Ted Wells came in with a mission against me. Ted Wells came in slanted against me and everything in his report was slanted against me. There were some things in there that would have helped my cause that were left out."

Schefter's report mentions Turner's case will "call into question" if Wells was actually working as an independent investigator.