She Shoots! She Scores! Knicks Lose Again

A little perspective, please, on the $11.6 million judgment handed down today against Madison Square Garden and its corporate owner, Cablevision Systems, in the sexual harassment suit filed by a former vice president of the New York Knicks.

A federal court jury decided that MSG had harassed Anucha Browne Sanders and said the company should pay her $6 million for allowing a hostile work environment to exist and $2.6 million for retaliating against her when she complained. In addition, the jury said MSG chief executive and president James Dolan should pay her $3 million for his role in the matter.

While jurors also concluded that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas had subjected Browne Sanders to unwanted advances and insults, they did not vote to have him pay punitive damages.

The total award—$11.6 million—is a lot of money, but nowhere near the record for a single plaintiff in a sexual harassment suit. That honor goes to Linda Gilbert, an autoworker who sued DaimlerChrysler back in 1994.

A Michigan state court jury awarded her $21 million in 1999, a judgment affirmed on appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2002. The state Supreme Court, however, threw out the judgment in July 2004, after finding it "so excessive and so clearly the product of passion and prejudice." Gilbert died of a heart attack in November 2004, age 45.

The sum is not even the biggest check that MSG will write to an individual this year. As part of its league-leading $130 million Knicks team payroll this year, MSG will pay point guard Stephon Marbury $20.1 million and power forward Zach Randolph $13.3 million.

Dolan, son of company founder and chairman Charles Dolan, was paid $15.8 million last year, according to public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

by Mark Stein