Isiah Thomas is found guilty of harassing former female executive but does not have to pay damages. The Garden and the coach say they will appeal.
From the Associated Press
9:12 AM PDT, October 2, 2007
NEW YORK -- A federal jury decided today Madison Square Garden and its chairman must pay $11.6 million in damages to former New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit.

The jury, which decided MSG had committed harassment against Browne Sanders, found that the Garden owes $6 million for allowing a hostile work environment to exist and $2.6 million for retaliation. MSG chairman James Dolan owes $3 million.

The Garden said it would appeal.

A verdict earlier today found that Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas subjected Browne Sanders to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults, but that he did not have to pay punitive damages.

After an ugly, three-week trial, that verdict gave Thomas a partial victory in the $10 million lawsuit.

"I'm innocent, I'm very innocent, and I did not do the things she has accused me in this courtroom of doing," Thomas said. "I'm extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case. I will appeal this, and I remain confident in the man that I am and what I stand for and the family that I have."

After the verdict, Browne Sanders hugged family members and friends gathered in the back of the courtroom.

U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch called it an "eminently reasonable" verdict, and gave the jurors instructions on how to proceed. Before the jury resumed deliberations, attorneys from both sides appealed to the jurors.

Browne Sanders' lawyer, Anne Vladeck, had urged the jury to afix damages that sent a message "to avoid this happening to somebody else." She said the defendants had ruined her client's career, and she called Dolan a liar.

Thomas's lawyer, Ronald Green, told jurors they had already sent "a very clear, very strong and very forceful message.

"Punishment for the sake of punishment is not what this is all about," he said.

The harassment verdict was widely expected after the jury sent a note to the judge Monday indicating that it believed Thomas, the Garden and Dolan sexually harassed Browne Sanders, a married mother of three.

"We believe that the jury's decision was incorrect," MSG said in a statement before punitive damages were awarded. "We look forward to presenting our arguments to an appeals court, and believe they will agree that no sexual harassment took place and MSG acted properly."
[Edited 10/2/07 11:26am]
[Edited 10/2/07 12:47pm]

hmmmmm....I bet he will rethink his position on black women being called bitches.

Your title doesn't make sense.

He wasn't "burned", he was found guilty and he's not having to pay a penny of that 11 million.

Thomas is a retard

Better news, I heard Allan Houston was coming back

Saying he got burned is like saying Hitler was done wrong by allied forces.

Isiah has always been a bit of an asshole, so this isn't too surprising.

Empress said:

I've never like that guy. Mostly because of the Jordan rules I suppose.

Rhondab said:

Yep. I hope.

Graycap23 said:

Actually, that's why I used to like Isiah, because there's no sports figure I detest more than Michael Jordan(great player, but the biggest whiner in NBA history).

Now Isiah's on my sh!t list, because he's turned my beloved Knicks, once a proud franchise, into a laughingstock. He's as bad as the previous GM, Scott Layden. But I doubt he gets fired. A competent owner would dump him, but we have Brain-Dead Dolan in charge - the worst owner in professional sports.

uPtoWnNY said:

Worst than Layden? Now that is a mouthful.

Graycap23 said:

More wonderful Knick news - according to realGM, Zach Randolph & Eddy Curry admitted they're out of shape. Curry is the dude Zeke labeled "The Franchise". This 285 pound fat, lazy f--k can't even get double-digit rebounds a game.

I just hope my football Giants can do deep into January, because I'm not looking forward to another season of Knick mediocrity.

This was all a ploy to get little kids to quit crying about the Mets.

uPtoWnNY said:

Eddy is Always out of shape.

He deserved it.

I thought yall was talkin bout me.....rush me a million...hell...

I'm no lover of Zeke or Dolan, but Sanders is no angel in this either. I don't need to hear her or her husband yapping about how this was a victory for working women - mfers, please STFU. This was all about the loot. If Sanders cared so much about working women, why drag the intern into this and expose her name? She had nothing to do with the case - bush league move, IMO.

Another lawsuit is being brought against the Garden by an ex Ranger City Skater. She alleges that MSG honchos ordered her to tell other skaters to rev up their sex appeal by padding their bras, take diet pills, and wear fake eyelashes and hairpieces. The good ole boys also wanted to know which skaters were promiscuous. Stay tuned.