A lawsuit filed 1,300 former players against the NFL over the use of painkillers was dismissed Wednesday by a federal judge.

“In ruling against the novel claims asserted herein, this order does not minimize the underlying societal issue,” Judge William Alsup of the U.S. Northern District in California said in his ruling. “In such a rough-and-tumble sport as professional football, player injuries loom as a serious and inevitable evil. Proper care of these injuries is likewise a paramount need.”

The NFL Players’ Association last month told the judge that the collective bargaining agreement did not provide a means to file grievances over the dispensation of painkillers. Alsup disagreed.

“We were surprised and disappointed by this judge’s ruling and plan to file an amended complaint or appeal,” said Steve Silverman, the attorney for the former players. “Our clients were courageous for bringing this case, proud of the changes they’ve already made for current and future players, we will continue to avail ourselves of the judicial process to further those goals.”

In the suit, the fomrer players contend that teams dispensed drugs without concern for safety and long-term well-being and withheld information about injuries.

“The league has addressed these serious concerns in a serious way — by imposing duties on the clubs via collective bargaining and placing a long line of health-and-safety duties on the team owners themselves,” Alsup wrote. “These benefits may not have been perfect, but they have been uniform across all clubs and not left to the vagaries of state common law. They are backed up by the enforcement power of the union itself and the players’ right to enforce these benefits.”

The former players have until Dec. 30 to file an amended complaint. They also have the right to appeal.

“The essence of plaintiffs’ claim for relief is that the individual clubs mistreated their players and the league was negligent in failing to intervene and stop their alleged mistreatment,” Judge Alsup wrote. “Plaintiffs anchor this claim for relief in supposed common law duties of each of the various states whose law would apply and vaguely suggest that all such states would impose the same uniform duty on the league to oversee the clubs.

“One problem is this: no decision in any state (including California) has ever held that a professional sports league owed such a duty to intervene and stop mistreatment by the league’s independent clubs.”