Job Offer Withdrawn Over Revised Reference

[mizscorpio]

I got a job offer from a company and they checked references. About Two weeks later they offered me the job and I accepted. I was then instructed to complete forms to do background check and fingerprints. In the meanwhile one of my references and I got into a verbal altercation and he threatned that he would call the company back and take back his "outstanding" reference that he gave me. I replied that i had already had the job and good luck to him. Well to my surprise 3 days later i recieve an email from the company stating that they were withdrawing my job offer due to a negative reference. Can they do that? I mean everyone gve me "outstanding" references and they offered me the job- and now one person has called back out of revenge and has taken back his statement. Do I have any recourse? any response would be helpful

[Lgnki]

If you have anything, I would say it is with the person who gave you the negative reference. As a general rule it is difficult to prove that why an employer hired or fired you. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of litigation regarding negative references.