CLEVELAND, Ohio - The principal trombone for the Cleveland Orchestra, Massimo La Rosa, has sued two detractors he claims defamed him by placing false statements about him on the internet to damage his reputation and career.

La Rosa, who joined the orchestra in 2007, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. The suit seeks damages from Jonathan Allen, a lecturer at the University of Iowa, and Abbie Conant, an internationally regarded trombonist.

It also requests an injunction that would prevent Allen, Conant and unknown others from publishing more information about him.

"The Allen Statements and the Conant Statements are intended to cause and, in fact, have caused a lynch mob reaction of dislike and hatred of [La Rosa],'' the lawsuit said. It said the statements have caused the cancellation of invitations for La Rosa to teach and perform.

The lawsuit also asks for more than $100,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

Allen said in an email that he could not comment. Conant, who lives in Taos, New Mexico, said that she was unaware of the lawsuit until The Plain Dealer reached her by email. She said the lawsuit "came out of the blue,'' and she had not received documents about it. She said she was not "in a position to comment on it."

La Rosa also could not be reached, and his attorneys, Aaron Minc and Daniel Powell, declined to comment. A spokeswoman at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where La Rosa serves on the faculty, and a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Orchestra said they did not know about the case, and they could not comment on it.

The lawsuit said that Allen published and re-published false and defamatory statements about La Rosa in September of this year and before that. The suit said Allen claimed La Rosa "had engaged in a pattern of professional misconduct, criminal wrongdoing and morally repugnant behavior.''

Specifically, it said, Allen "falsely alleged that [La Rosa], who is married, had committed and was criminally culpable for multiple sexual assaults on numerous college campuses [where La Rosa] had been invited to as a guest instructor.''

The suit said La Rosa "has never been criminally charged with, or even criminally investigated for, any such criminal behavior or other crimes of moral turpitude.''

According to the lawsuit, Conant "had supported and affirmed the truth'' of Allen's statements. The lawsuit said Conant also re-posted the statements on her Facebook page on Sept. 7, 2017. The lawsuit said Conant wrote that La Rosa "engaged in 'sick' and criminal behavior, including sexual assault,'' and that she encouraged others to protest at his workplace.

That alleged post on Facebook could not be found in a Plain Dealer search.

On Dec. 10, the suit said, Conant authored another post. That post focused on an alleged incident that took place at the University of Iowa, where La Rosa had been a guest artist and where Allen lectures.

The post said a professor who teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and plays in the Cleveland Orchestra had been investigated for a sexual assault of a student at the University of Iowa.

The post, which did not name La Rosa, also said that the Cleveland Orchestra performed at the university earlier this year. During a rehearsal before a concert, the post said, police showed up and escorted the musician off campus.

The lawsuit said Conant falsely alleged that police escorted La Rosa off campus. According to the lawsuit, La Rosa never attended a rehearsal for the orchestra at the University of Iowa in 2016 or 2017.

A spokeswoman for the orchestra could not say whether La Rosa performed at the university. But she did say, "to our knowledge, Mr. La Rosa was not escorted off campus at the University of Iowa.''

A spokeswoman for the University of Iowa told The Plain Dealer that there is no record of campus police escorting "any musicians from the Cleveland Orchestra off campus when it performed at the university on Jan. 20, 2017.''

The suit alleges defamation, as well as civil harassment and civil conspiracy. The suit, besides the compensatory and punitive damages, seeks to have Allen and Conant remove all false and defamatory statements from the Internet, including requesting the removal from search engines.

In 2015, The Plain Dealer interviewed La Rosa about his work, Cleveland and the orchestra.

"The Cleveland Orchestra is a top-class orchestra,'' La Rosa said. "I have a lot of respect for what we do, and it's a great honor to be a part of it.''