By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

The parents of Nancy Benoit, the late wife of Chris Benoit, do not appear to have plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against WWE. The potential exposure of more information against Chris Benoit could be too much for the family to endure two years after the Benoit family tragedy.

Chris's in-laws filed a wrongful death suit against Dr. Phil Astin on Wednesday mere days before the two-year statute of limitation on filing a wrongful death suit expires in the state of Georgia.

The family could have looked into filing a suit against WWE for potentially contributing to Chris's double-murder/suicide based on the idea that the company's Wellness Policy should have detected excessive drug or steroid use that could have impacted Chris's mentality at the time of the deaths in June 2007.

Filing a suit against WWE could have led to WWE lead attorney Jerry McDevitt revealing some less-than-flattering speculation on Chris Benoit, however.

Dr. Phil Astin was imprisoned for over-prescribing medication to patients, but McDevitt alleged in an email to wrestling author Irv Muchnick that Chris may have been re-selling the over-prescribed medication to third-hand parties.

According to Muchnick, Jerry McDevitt said that Dr. Astin was charged one year ago with over-prescribing medication and also "with conspiracy with some of the recipients of his prescriptions to further distribute the drugs."

Muchnick further reports that the new-at-the-time Benoit family residence did not have a mortgage against the property. The builder of the new house was apparently paid in lump sums with a "series of payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Muchnick clarified from his article that he is not alleging that Benoit re-sold drugs, but simply referred to McDevitt's email as a legal tactic to fend off a potential wrongful death lawsuit filed against WWE.

"I'm only quoting McDevitt and explaining the tactical legal significance of his remark," Muchnick said in an email on Wednesday. "I'm not asserting McDevitt's innuendo as fact."

Muchnick concludes that McDevitt strategically used the information to send a "clear message ... that if WWE were hauled into court, it would defend itself aggressively, and such a defense inevitably would further drag Chris and Nancy's names through the mud."

Caldwell's Analysis: The two key takeaways right now are: there currently is not hard evidence proving that Benoit re-sold the over-prescribed medication from Dr. Astin and WWE floated the idea of Benoit re-selling medication to proactively fend off a potential lawsuit.

FYI: Wrestling author Irv Muchnick has a new book titled "The Chris & Nancy" story coming out this fall with more insider details on the Benoit Family tragedy. Book details.

Link: Muchnick's report from Slam Wrestling.

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