The Philadelphia Eagles have ripped a scab from an old wound, by filing a lawsuit against receiver Terrell Owens.

The move is a mere formality, aimed at enforcing an arbitritation award that the Eagles secured earlier in the year regarding Owens’ obligation to repay bonus money based on his conduct in 2005, which culminated in a four-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.  The suit was required because Owens has reportedly ignored efforts by the team to recover the money.

The team thereafter sent him home with pay, but withheld the checks and applied them to the total bonus repayment obligation of $1.7 million.  It left a difference of $769,117, which Owens must pay out of his own pocket.

The Eagles’ only request of the federal court in which the matter was filed will be to convert the arbitration award into a valid judgment, which the team would then use as the basis to pursue Owens’ assets.

Once the judgment is entered, the Eagles can attempt to recover the money in any jurisdiction where Owens has assets, by asking the courts in such jurisdictions to recognize the judgment.  In most cases, it’s a fairly automatic procedure.

And someone who should be paying particular attention to this is Bengals receiver Chad Johnson.  If he follows through on his threat to hold out and/or retire, he eventually could be required to write an even bigger check to the Bengals.

Surprisingly, we’ve heard nothing from Johnson since the Bengals didn’t trade him over the weekend.  Maybe that’s because the team that was chasing him — the Redskins — drafted two of the highest-rated receivers.