Former NFL linebacker Tyus Bowser has filed a civil lawsuit against the NFL Players Association and union attorney Andrew Morris, alleging that the union threw out his grievance without ever telling him or getting his permission. The case is now pending in federal court in Houston, Texas.
Bowser’s problems started at a Baltimore Ravens-owned medical facility, where he allegedly contracted a staph infection during a required treatment. The lawsuit alleges the infection derailed his career and cost him his salary and benefits.
The second-round pick of the Ravens in 2017 turned to the NFLPA, which filed a grievance on his behalf in April 2024. The lawsuit states that an arbitrator was assigned and a hearing was set for October 2024, but the union then went silent. Without telling Bowser or getting his approval, the NFLPA postponed the hearing, passed on rescheduled dates the arbitrator offered, and eventually dropped the case altogether. Bowser says he never agreed to those actions, and by the time he found out what happened his chance at a fair hearing was gone.
“The NFLPA is supposed to be in a player’s corner. In this case, the union didn’t even make a phone call,” says Bowser’s attorney Micah Dortch of Dortch Lindstrom Livingston in Dallas. “Tyus trusted the NFLPA to fight for him. They never talked to him. Not once. They dismissed his case without his permission and without warning. We intend to prove that at trial.”
Bowser’s lawsuit asserts two main claims. First, the NFLPA violated its duty of fair representation, a federally recognized obligation that requires unions to handle grievances honestly and without bad faith. Second, both the NFLPA and Morris committed legal malpractice by making decisions about his case without his knowledge or consent.
Now the NFLPA has hired Jeffrey Kessler, one of the best-known sports lawyers in the nation, to lead its defense. Kessler is the attorney behind some of the most significant legal battles in professional sports history. The NFLPA also retained his colleague David Greenspan, a widely respected sports attorney in his own right.
“Nobody questions whether the NFLPA knows how to find good lawyers,” says Dortch. “The question is why Tyus Bowser never got that same effort. Tyus Bowser deserved that kind of fight when it was his career on the line. He didn’t get it.”
According to the NFLPA’s own financial filings, the union holds more than $1 billion in assets, funded by player dues. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, it spent $18.2 million on outside lawyers, and records indicate more than $14 million of that went to Kessler’s firm, Winston & Strawn. Almost none of the union’s legal counsel fees went toward representing players in disputes such as Bowser’s.
“A billion-dollar union that spent $14 million with the same law firm now defending it in this case, and Tyus Bowser couldn’t get a phone call,” says Dortch. “That tells you everything you need to know about where the NFLPA’s priorities really are.”
According to Dortch this is not the first time questions have been raised about how the NFLPA spends money paid by players.
- Lloyd Howell Jr., the union’s former executive director, earned approximately $3.6 million in total compensation during his first full year on the job, including a $3.34 million base salary, all paid from player dues. He resigned in July 2025 after an outside investigator hired by the union obtained documents showing he had also charged the union for two visits to strip clubs.
- Heather McPhee served as the NFLPA’s associate general counsel from 2009 until 2025 when she sued the union, Howell, and two current senior executives, alleging they conspired to stop her from cooperating with a federal criminal investigation into union finances. The NFLPA fired her on December 30, less than two weeks after she filed that lawsuit.
“The Howell situation and the Bowser situation are different problems, but they point to the same pattern,” says Dortch. “This is an organization that has lost sight of who it works for.”
Bowser is seeking more than $1 million in damages, including lost salary and benefits, loss of future earning capacity, mental anguish, and attorneys’ fees.
About Dortch Lindstrom Livingston
Dortch Lindstrom Livingston Law Group represents a wide range of corporate and professional entities in complex commercial litigation and personal injury cases. Based in Texas, the firm handles nationwide cases with a commitment to providing skillful representation, zealous advocacy, and comprehensive solutions tailored to each client’s needs. For more information, visit https://dll-law.com.
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