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Ex-Giant Lawrence Tynes Files Lawsuit Against Buccaneers Over MRSA Infection

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Former NFL kicker Lawrence Tynes has filed a lawsuit against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over a MRSA infection he contracted in a toe on his kicking foot, prematurely ending his career.

Attorney Stephen F. Rosenthal said Tuesday that Tynes got the infection in 2013 at the Bucs' training facility. The lawsuit filed in Broward County Circuit Court accuses the team of negligence for failing to properly sanitize the facility to prevent spread of the contagious, drug-resistant infection.

"No one cultured my toe at the facility," Tynes told ESPN.com. "I left that facility on my own and found a doctor in town and said, 'Can you look at my toe because I think all the doctors at the Bucs are lying to me.'

"And I took my sock off. He looks at my toe -- without any scientific study or anything -- he said, 'You have MRSA.' And I'm at a billion-dollar company with the supposed best doctors in the world, and not one of them told me that I had that? I know they knew I had it. They just didn't want me to have it."

Rosenthal says the infection cost Tynes at least $20 million in potential earnings. Tynes, 36, won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants and also played for the Kansas City Chiefs. He made 81 percent of his field goals.

A Buccaneers spokesman declined comment on a pending legal matter.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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