An Omaha referee who was the target of threats after Kentucky's loss in the NCAA basketball tournament has filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Sports Radio and two of its hosts.
In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Nebraska, John Higgins is seeking in excess of $75,000 from KSR and its operators Matt Jones and Drew Franklin. In the lawsuit, Higgins claims KSR publicized his business and contact information and encouraged upset fans to contact him. Higgins says bogus reviews from Kentucky hurt his businesses customer ratings.
Higgins' company was flooded with harassing email, voicemail and phone calls after he refereed Kentucky's 75-73 NCAA Tournament loss to North Carolina. He said his family had received death threats.
"College sports is big business, and college basketball fans are notorious for their ferocious devotion to the home team," the complaint reads. "While a basketball game is only played between two teams, there are three major groups of players at each game: the winning team, the losing team, and, increasingly visible with instant-replay on every television broadcast, the referees."
Out of 800 vulgar voice messages believed to have been left by Kentucky fans, five were classified as legitimate threats.
Jones took to Twitter Tuesday to comment on the lawsuit. He wrote, "The Higgins lawsuit against KSR is frivolous and without any legal merit whatsoever. We will defend it and expect a favorable result quickly."