SARASOTA COUNTY — A referee who was attacked in an August 2011 brawl during a youth football game in Sarasota has filed a lawsuit against the School Board and three other agencies for damages in excess of $15,000.

Also named in the suit filed by 14-year referee Jayme Ream and his wife, Michelle, of St. Petersburg, are the Mid-Florida Football and Cheerleading Conference, Gators Youth Football and Mid-Florida’s insurance company, Mutual of Omaha. Ream, 43, claims the Mid-Florida conference failed to properly screen its employees before allowing them to coach, according to court documents. A couple of Gators coaches involved in the Aug. 27, 2011, fight on the field had criminal backgrounds. One man, Dexter Austin, 45, was not a coach and shouldn’t have been on the field at Riverview High School, according to a Mid-Florida representative.