College basketball referee John Higgins, who was the subject of fan threats and a bombardment of the Facebook page of his roofing business in March, has filed a federal civil lawsuit against a Kentucky Sports Radio and its owners, Drew Franklin and Matthew Jones, according to a report from The Athletic.

In the suit, Higgins alleges the company intentionally inflicted emotional distress, invaded his privacy, and committed tortious interference with his business, and committed civil conspiracy. It also alleges that Kentucky Sports Radio and its owners shared Higgins' personal and business information online and on the radio in an attempt to cause harm to his business and family.

Higgins is seeking damages in excess of $75,000 with a specific amount to be determined at trial.

Here's a snippet of the lawsuit obtained by The Athletic's Dana O'Neil explaining Higgins' reasoning behind the suit and more context on why Higgins chose to pursue legal action.

College sports is big business, and college basketball fans are notorious for their ferocious devotion to the home team. 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. Ideally, the fans of the losing team would clinically analyze the game and hope for a better day tomorrow (or next season). Realistically, some, instead, inappropriately blame and ridicule the collegiate players. Others choose to excoriate the referees. A critique or two, with lively language, is to be expected. Death threats and defamatory messages in the thousands that lead to a serious disruption in a referee's business are not to be expected, are tortious, and are to be met with the full force of the civil action and the penalties awarded thereunder.

Higgins' roofing company, Weatherguard, was inundated with more than 3,000 phone calls, 800 voicemails, harassing emails, and personal death threats shortly after he refereed in Kentucky's Elite Eight loss to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. Higgins' company was also hit with negative online reviews by angry Kentucky fans, which caused loss of business and income, Higgins claims.

In an interesting twist of fate, Higgins was named the Naismith Official of the Year earlier this week.