Marbury is quite possibly the weirdest person ever. How can anyone act so stragely all the time. Stupid/weird/mental... who knows... http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...knicks-thomasharassmentsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns Knicks guard Marbury testifies he found sex harass lawsuit `a joke' By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer September 12, 2007 NEW YORK (AP) -- Knicks guard Stephon Marbury testified Wednesday in the case of a fired team executive who has accused coach Isiah Thomas of sexual harassment, calling the lawsuit absurd while downplaying an encounter with a drunken intern. After hearing about the lawsuit brought by Anucha Browne Sanders, "I laughed," Marbury said in U.S. District Court. "It was more of a joke than anything." Marbury admitted he once called Browne Sanders a "b****" during a phone conversation with another team employee though he insisted, "I didn't have a reason not to like her." Browne Sanders says she is owed her vice president position back and at least $10 million for enduring a sexually harassing workplace for five years. Her lawsuit claims she was fired "for telling the truth" about vulgarity and unwanted advances by Thomas, also a team president. Thomas has denied the allegations. Taking the witness stand earlier Wednesday, Browne Sanders wept while telling the jury of five women and three men that Marbury and his cousins, also Madison Square Garden employees, were part of the problem. The plaintiff cited a conversation with an MSG intern who confided that she was having a relationship with one of the cousins and had gotten drunk on an outing to a Manhattan strip club in April 2005 that included Marbury. The intern claimed that afterward Marbury lured her into his vehicle for sex, Browne Sanders said. "She said she basically did whatever he asked her to do and she considered it to be consensual because she got in the car," Browne Sanders testified. When he took the stand, Marbury admitted pulling up and asking the intern, "Are you going to get in the truck?"' He said she answered, "Yes." U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch cut off any more questioning on the encounter, saying more details wouldn't help the jury decide the case. After Marbury finished testifying, he rode down 23 floors in a crowded elevator, saying to no one in particular: "Money makes you do crazy things, man." Then he left the courthouse, smiling and singing a song out loud. When pressed to divulge more about his relationship with the intern, he instead commented cheerfully on a reporter's shoes.
Man, who thought it would be a good idea to put Marbury on the stand? I'm surprised he didn't submarine Isiah's case saying something stupid. The article does a terrible job, though, of explaining what Marbury's testimony has to do with the case. So, Marbury said the lawsuit was a joke, had called Browne a b****, and had sex with an intern. What does that have to do with Isiah harassing Browne?
they were talking about this last night on the radio. it had nothing to do with the case and therefore the judged abrubtly stopped it.
I'm guessing it may be the plaintiff's lawyer. And yes... Marbury appears to be a weird guy. I applaud him for his charity work and all... doesn't mean he isn't weird.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3045272 Jury shows signs it believes Thomas committed sexual harassment Associated Press NEW YORK -- A jury indicated Monday that it believes New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden committed sexual harassment against a former team executive. There was no official verdict, but the wording of a note to the judge by jurors makes it clear they have reached decisions on the key points of the $10 million lawsuit that has turned into a public relations disaster for the franchise. Jurors reached a decision on eight of nine questions on the jury form. They were deadlocked on the one question, which asks whether Thomas should pay punitive damages. That question only becomes relevant if the jury of four women and three men first determines Thomas and Madison Square Garden committed harassment against Anucha Browne Sanders. The judge sent the jury home for the day, asking the panel to deliberate Tuesday on the deadlocked question. Lawyers for both sides declined to comment on the development, which came on the second full day of deliberations. Browne Sanders, fired from her $260,000 a year job in 2006, has accused Thomas and Madison Square Garden of sexual harassment and said MSG fired her for complaining about the treatment. Her case presented the Garden as "Animal House" in sneakers, a place where nepotism, sexism, crude remarks and crass language were part of the culture. Browne Sanders, a married mother of three, spent four days on the witness stand laying out her case against the Garden and Thomas, who is married with two children. A former Northwestern college basketball star, Browne Sanders characterized Thomas as a foul-mouthed lout who initially berated her as a "b****" and a "ho" before his anger gave way to ardor, with Thomas making unwanted advances and encouraging her to visit him "off site." Thomas, hired in December 2003, followed her to the stand and denied the allegations. Attorneys for Thomas and the Garden portrayed Browne Sanders as incompetent and unable to adapt once Thomas arrived as the Knicks' president. "That's not about sexual harassment," MSG attorney Ronald Green said in his closing argument. "That's about team politics." Thomas acknowledged trying to kiss Browne Sanders in December 2005, asking her "No love today?" when she recoiled. MSG president Steve Mills said he spoke with Thomas about the single incident, and the former point guard said it wouldn't happen again. In her closing argument, Browne Sanders' attorney Anne Vladeck made note of Thomas' charismatic style and incandescent grin. "There is no question Mr. Thomas can be charming and flash an engaging smile," she told the jury. "That does not give him the right to treat Browne Sanders like she is his woman." Browne Sanders filed her lawsuit after she was fired in January 2006. MSG chairman Jim Dolan, who testified before Thomas, said he dismissed the team's vice president for marketing and business operations after learning she was pressuring Garden subordinates to bolster her complaint. The case, from its inception, proved a public relations nightmare for the Knicks and the Garden, with coverage of the three-week trial focusing on its tawdriest aspects -- star guard Stephon Marbury having sex with an intern outside a strip club, raunchy come-ons from a Marbury cousin to his Garden co-workers, Thomas' videotaped remarks about the racial dynamics of calling a woman "a b****." "The World's Most Heinous Arena," read one New York Post headline about the case. The trial did steer attention from the Knicks' on-court woes as the team geared up for its second season with Thomas as head coach. The Knicks finished 33-49 last year and have yet to win a playoff game during the Thomas regime.
I doubt if the Knicks will fire him, but the Knicks are going to receive a lot of public pressure from this.
GUILTY Zeke thanks for setting the nicks 20 years back and having a horrible career as a GM/Coach. Isiah found guilty in harassment case Isiah found guilty in harassment case Posted: Tuesday October 2, 2007 11:19AM; Updated: Tuesday October 2, 2007 11:34AM NEW YORK (AP) -- A jury ruled Tuesday that New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed a top team executive, subjecting the married mother of three to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults. But the jury also ruled that Thomas does not have to pay punitive damages to the women, giving him a partial victory after an ugly, three-week trial. The jury did find that Madison Square Garden committed harassment against the woman, and ruled that MSG should have to pay her punitive damages. U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch called it an "imminently reasonable" verdict and said the jury will be asked to return later in the day to hear brief arguments on possible punitive damages against MSG. The harassment verdict was widely expected after the jury sent a note to the judge Monday indicating that it believed Thomas and the other defendants, Madison Square Garden and MSG Chairman James Dolan, sexually harassed plaintiff Anucha Browne Sanders. But the question of whether Thomas would have to pay punitive damages was up in the air until Tuesday.
When he played the "I'm just a guy that likes to hug and kiss coworkers when I'm happy" card, they lost. The name calling stuff alone went nowhere. A witness + Isiah admitting he tried to hug/kiss her after a win = game over. Isiah finds a new way to bleed Cablevision money. Wow. And what makes this amazing is that she was completely incompetent at her job and they still couldn't convince the jury that she was fired on merit. This team needs to be sold if it's going to be saved. Evan
She made $260,000 a year and sued for $10,000,000???? Quite a lofty, lofty premium. If she saved a $100,000 dollars a year without interest or compounding, she would make 10 million dollars in 100 years. Yet she feels or the system feels that she is entitled to this amount because of a year of sexual harrassment?? People that champion this effort think that these excessive lawsuits help people and punish evil companies but they don't realize that these beneficiaries of the lawsuits and the lawyers make the money and the ones that end up paying it are the consumers who use Cablevision or the New York Knicks. Tickets, concessions and the like fractionally increase as costs increase. So Knicks fans will end up paying this lawsuit, just as individuals pay out the nose in excessive lawsuits when products cost more and their savings and retirement money does not do as well.
She isn't getting $10 mil. . She only won a partial settlement and the jury said that punitive damages should not be awarded from Zeke, but they should be from MSG. I haven't been able to find what she wanted in the initial suit (admittedly I didn't look real hard either), but it does say on yahoo that she would only get a partial amount of the $10 million. and the jury would be meeting this afternoon to determine that amount.
Accuser Anucha Browne Sanders walks out of court Oct. 1. She is suing Knicks partial owner and head coach Isiah Thomas for $10 million for sexual harassment Isiah Thomas is in court for a $10 million sexual harassment suit filed by a former MSG exec, Anucha Sanders Brown Jim Dolan outside the federal courthouse where Thomas' $10 million sexual harassment suit is being tried. Dolan said he fired Brown. Kathleen Decker, a former intern of the Knicks, testified that she willingly slept with Stephon Marbury Stephon Marbury outside the federal courthouse of Thomas' trial
I was surprised. I figured the MSG lawyers knew what they were doing well enough to have settled if a loss was likely. Why go through all the bad PR only to lose the trial too? That's why they call it punitive. Why would MSG think twice about it if they didn't have to pay significant dollars? It's not exactly the $54 million pants. And, don't worry, the shareholders will share the cost with the consumers.
Compounding that: Why the heck did they ever hire her - credentials? And at such an outrageous salary? Just.... wacky.
F.D. Khan Looking at this from a strict economic POV, yes it is a good chunk of money, but the Knicks have thrown millions out the window in recent years on other poor decisions. The Knicks released Maurice Taylor in Fall 2006 with a 7.5 million dollar that they had to eat. They also released Jalen Rose in Fall 2006 with a 14.6 million dollar contract that they had to eat.
that is kind of hard when she kept getting good reviews. plaintiff attorney: when did she start to be incompetent? thomas: when that b**** h* starting complaining about me! game, set, and match.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/02/thomas.suit.ap/index.html Isiah Thomas, seen entering Manhattan federal court on Monday, is accused of harrassing a former employee. Jury awards $11.6 million in Knicks harassment case NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal jury decided 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 Tuesday 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." Watch Thomas react to ruling ยป 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' 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."
