NSAC denies Diaz camp request for injunction against suspension
The Nevada attorney general’s office, on behalf of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, has filed a document opposing a request…
The Nevada attorney general’s office, on behalf of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, has filed a document opposing a request for an injunction against Nick Diaz’s temporary suspension.
According to the commission, it has been held up by both the absence of evidence that the attorney general requested and the fighter’s initial challenge of his failed drug test.
“Mr. Diaz has failed to exhaust his administrative remedies,” states the 20-page document, a copy of which MMAjunkie.com recently obtained. “In this matter, Mr. Diaz ignored the process and now has attempted to go into court and claim that he is being harmed.”
On May 14, a Nevada judge will determine whether the NSAC moves forward with administrative proceedings. Diaz could face a yearlong suspension and fines with a formal suspension, which would be his second in the state.
Nick Diaz’s response, filed through attorney Ross C. Goodman to Nevada district court on Friday, argues that the NAC has requested an unlimited power of interim suspension through its opposition brief. The 12-page document disputes the NAC’s claim that Diaz has failed to exhaust his available administrative remedies and claims that the issues raised in [Diaz’s] complaint are ripe for adjudication.
[Diaz’s] complaint puts in issue the [NAC] administrative procedure itself, and therefore the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies has no application, Goodman wrote. Further, there exists no administrative remedy for the Commission’s failure to convene a prompt hearing or to seek relief from an administrative agency in respect of that same agency’s violation of a licensee’s statutory and due process rights.
The issue is not whether [Diaz] or the Commission is more likely to be successful in connection with the underlying disciplinary proceedings. The issue is whether [Diaz] is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim commenced in this court — sufficient to ground the preliminary injunctive relief sought, he wrote.
