The owner of Round Barn restaurant in Champaign has filed a countersuit against five individuals suing him for discrimination.

Urbana attorney James Kearns filed the suit April 11 on behalf of Phil Katsinas, owner of Round Barn. The countersuit, filed with the U.S. District Court in Peoria, claims the defendants named made defamatory statements about Katsinas in interviews with The Daily Illini and WICD-TV.

On Feb. 28, Robert Leonard, William Cook, Diana Waters, David Wegeng and Roger Fontana filed a civil suit against Katsinas, the Round Barn, Honor the Chief Society Inc. and former Honor the Chief president Roger Huddleston. The suit claimed the plaintiffs were denied entrance to Round Barn despite purchasing tickets for an Honor the Chief program there on Feb. 28, 2004.

“A counterclaim was filed alleging that they made a number of comments to the news media basically all saying that Phil Katsinas was a racist, and I consider that slanderous,” Kearns said.

Following the event, Cook, Fontana, Leonard and Wegeng were interviewed by the Daily Illini. In a March 15, 2004, article, Wegeng was quoted as saying: “They were honoring a fake Indian and they would not let real Indians in.”

Cook was quoted in the DI story saying that “(Round Barn) violated our civil rights.”

The countersuit alleges the statements in the DI and on WICD-TV implied that the five individuals were denied access because they were American Indians. The suit also alleges that the statements wrongly accused Katsinas of racism, that the group knew they were false and that Katsinas’ reputation has been damaged as a result of the claims.

The original lawsuit filed by Cook, Fontana, Leonard, Waters and Wegeng seeks $2.5 million in damages, as well as attorney fees and costs. A hearing in that suit is scheduled for May 4.