08/14/26 09:21:00
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08/14 21:19 CDT Judge sides with MSG against Oakley, says the former Knick
couldn't prove he was assaulted at game
Judge sides with MSG against Oakley, says the former Knick couldn't prove he
was assaulted at game
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- A judge sided with Madison Square Garden in its lengthy legal
battle with Charles Oakley on Friday, saying that the former New York Knicks
All-Star had not proven he was assaulted when he was removed from a game he
attended in 2017.
Oakley was handcuffed and arrested after an altercation with security while
sitting near owner James Dolan during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Oakley initially brought a number of claims against MSG that were dismissed in
February 2020. After appeal, Oakley's assault-and-battery claim remained.
But Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Southern District of New York ruled that
Oakley "has produced no evidence to support his claim that he was assaulted by
MSG security guards."
MSG had pointed to video evidence and previous testimony that Oakley was not
assaulted.
"For more than nine years, Mr. Oakley's lawyers have pursued claims they knew
were false. Those claims have now been dismissed by the Court in their entirety
--- for the third time," MSG said in a statement. "We are pursuing legal action
against Douglas Wigdor, and his unscrupulous law firm, to hold them accountable
for years of frivolous litigation and their blatant abuse of the judicial
system."
Oakley was a beloved Knicks forward in the 1990s, and he remains one of the few
former players who has remained absent from MSG during the team's recent
playoff runs, culminating with this year's NBA championship.
His removal from the game was a jarring scene, but Sullivan ruled that Oakley
hadn't proven it was done with excessive force.
"Ample evidence --- including videos from multiple angles and the unanimous
testimony of every witness (even, to some extent, Oakley himself) --- shows
that Oakley had a reasonable opportunity to depart the Garden, that he instead
resorted to physical violence, and that he was never pushed to the ground,"
Sullivan wrote.
The judge added that "no rational jury could conclude that Oakley reasonably
feared himself at risk of wrongful physical contact --- let alone that MSG
intended to stir such an apprehension."
Wigdor still hopes a jury will get a chance to rule.
"We are disappointed with the Court's rulings," he wrote in an email. "We
believe there are conflicting accounts and only a jury can decide what exactly
happened. We are hopeful that the Second Circuit will agree for a third time
and remand the case for an immediate jury trial."
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