'Anucha Browne Sanders vs Madison Square Graden\r'

'The executive, Anucha smiler Sanders, has asked for an supernumerary $9. 6 one thousand thousand in compensatory damages, which the judge leave alone decide on in the coming weeks. The garden and Mr. doubting doubting Thomas say they would raise. Ms. physiognomy Sanders accused Mr. Thomas of verbally abusing and versedly harassing her over a biyearly period. Less than a month after she formally complained to the tend, the company chairman, James L. Dolan, fired her. In court, the Garden cited numerous explanations for the dismissal, including poor conjecture performance and the take away that she had interfered with the Garden’s internal investigation of her accusations.Ms. smiler Sanders, who wept when the purpose was read, described her victory as chief(prenominal) for â€Å"the women who don’t have the means and couldn’t peradventure have done what I was capable to do,” and for â€Å"everybody that cares to the highest degree bestowi ng in a cultivated work environment. ” Mr. Thomas emerged from the courthouse and say, â€Å"I want to enjoin it as loud as I possibly can: I am innocent; I am very innocent. I did non do the things that she accused me in the courtroom of doing. ” Patting his chest for emphasis, he added, â€Å"I am extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case.I auditionament appeal this. ” The sordid four-week trial was the latest chapter in the recital of a once-respected N. B. A. franchise. During Mr. Thomas’s nearly four-year kick upstairs as president and now coach, the team has worn-out(a) millions on free agents without any progress toward a championship. And still to come, the Garden faces a second familiar harassment trial brought by a motive Rangers cheerleader against team officials. The Garden was ordered to pay $6 million for subjecting Ms. kisser Sanders to a hostile work environment and another $2. million for firing her in retaliation. The jury ordered that Mr. Dolan pay $3 million for the retaliation. In his deposition, Mr. Dolan said that he alone make the decision to fire her. Mr. Dolan had no comment on the verdict or the award. Although found liable, Mr. Thomas will not have to pay any of the punitory damages for sexually harassing Ms. Browne Sanders with unwanted sexual advances. One holdout on the seven-member jury kept the beautify from holding him financially responsible for the harassment. The juror crack Anne Foster, 49, of Cortlandt Manor, N. Y. said it was just â€Å"different personality traits” among the jurors that direct them to hold Mr. Dolan, not Mr. Thomas, financially liable for Ms. Browne Sanders’s claims. Asked if she believed Mr. Dolan’s testimony, Ms. Foster said: â€Å"I can’t say. I’m not a psychiatrist. ” United areas District Court try out Gerard E. kill is expected to make a decision as early as next month on compens atory damages for Ms. Browne Sanders, a formerNorthwestern University basketball star and mother of three, who was fired in January 2006 from her $260,000-a-year job as the Knicks’ senior vice president of marketing.She said that the firing by Mr. Dolan led her to search for to a greater extent than year to find her current job as the associate athletic director at the State University of New York at Buffalo, at about half(a) her salary with the Knicks. The trial painted Mr. Thomas as the foul-mouthed president of basketball operations who clashed with Ms. Browne Sanders about their executive responsibilities. It featured testimony about sex between the team’s star,Stephon Marbury, and a Knicks intern in his truck; a slipshod internal Garden investigation of Ms. Browne Sanders’s claims; and the hiring of Mr.Marbury’s cousin and a boyfriend of Mr. Dolan’s stepdaughter as Knicks employees. The trial and the verdicts exposed more disturb about the state of the Knicks, and the Garden, under Mr. Dolan’s leadership. Mr. Thomas stepped in to coach after Mr. Dolan fired Larry Brown, who have an $18. 5 million contract settlement during an arbitration by N. B. A. Commissioner David Stern. The Garden refused to settle the case against Ms. Browne Sanders, exposing the organization to ridicule in newspapers and in picture reports. But the verdicts will not lead to sanctions by the group discussion.Although the league penalizes players, coaches and team owners for criminal infractions, said Tim Frank, the league’s vice president for basketball communications, â€Å"Our policies do not encompass civil litigation. ” The claims that Ms. Browne Sanders do against Mr. Thomas appeared to come down to a test of her credibility as a pocket-size-known executive against his eminence standing and Hall of Fame status. Her claims that he repeatedly referred to her as a â€Å"bitch” and made unwanted advances had l ittle corroboration from witnesses. Still, they stood up to a barrage of testimony by witnesses for Mr.Thomas and the Garden that her job performance had dramatically floundered in 2005. â€Å"If this was something I made up, it would have been a lot juicier,” Ms. Browne Sanders said in an interview. subsequently the verdict, Mr. Thomas left for the Knicks’ training camp in Charleston, S. C. , where he arrived later in the afternoon. Ms. Browne Sanders gathered with her legal team and relatives for a prayer spate outside the courthouse. In its statement, the Garden said, â€Å"We look forrard to presenting our arguments to an appeals court and believe they will agree that no sexual harassment took place. Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond Law School and a former civil litigator, doubted the appeal would succeed. â€Å"The jury heard the facts and it is erratic that an appeals court would overturn a jury decision which was so fact-intensive,â⠂¬Â he said in a telephone interview. â€Å"There isn’t much primer coat unless there was a legal error, and Judge Lynch has a very good reputation for qualification sure his cases are fairly and properly tried. ” Tobias said that the jury not holding Mr. Thomas financially liable â€Å"is not a large replete inconsistency that could have this overturned. ”\r\n'