Michael Irvin Counters Assault Claim With $100M Lawsuit

(MYFOX NATIONAL) – Former Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin has fired back at a claim of sexual assault with a $100 million countersuit that claims the civil suit filed by a woman last week caused him to be fired from his job as an ESPN radio host in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.

ESPN terminated the contract the day after the suit was filed against Irvin, although the network said the decision had been made before the suit was filed, according to The Associated Press .

"This is nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to carry out plaintiff's extortion plot while capitalizing on the media circus that is Super Bowl weekend," Irvin's lawsuit said, according to ESPN .

The latest accusation against Irvin stems from an alleged incident in July 2007. Filed only days before Super Bowl XLIV in Florida, the unnamed woman's civil suit filed in Broward County Circuit Court claims Irvin sexually assaulted her at a South Florida hotel , according to ESPN . The suit seeks unspecified damages for the incident that allegedly occurred July 4 or 5, 2007, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

The plaintiff had reported the incident to police in 2007 but later signed a waiver of prosecution "to put the case behind her," a Seminole tribe police spokesman told The Associated Press . There was no physical evidence of the alleged incident because the woman waited more than two weeks to report it. No hotel surveillance video exists, either, officials said.

The Broward State Attorney General’s office is investigating the allegation; no criminal charges have been filed, ESPN reported.

This isn't the first sexual assault claim against the Hall of Fame wide receiver.

In 1996, Irvin and Cowboys teammate Erik Williams were accused of sexually assaulting a dancer from the Dallas area. That allegation turned out to be made up, and the accuser recanted, spent three months in jail and paid a fine, ESPN reported.