: NEW YORK - A jury decided Tuesday that New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed a former top team executive, subjecting her to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults, but also said he does not have to pay punitive damages.
After an ugly, three-week trial, the verdict gives Thomas a partial victory in the $10 million lawsuit filed by Anucha Browne Sanders.
The jury did find that Madison Square Garden committed harassment against the woman,
U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch called it an “eminently reasonable” verdict and said the jury will be asked to return later Tuesday to hear brief arguments on punitive damages.
“I’m innocent, 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.”
Madison Square Garden also said it would appeal.
“We believe that the jury’s decision was incorrect,” MSG said in a statement. “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.”
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 Browne Sanders, a married mother of three.
After the verdict, Browne Sanders hugged family members and friends gathered in the back of the courtroom. Thomas huddled with his lawyers, and was allowed to leave the Manhattan courthouse. Dozens of reporters and cameras gathered outside the courthouse to await his exit.
Browne Sanders, fired from her $260,000 a year job in 2006, sued Thomas and Madison Square Garden. 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.
The former Northwestern college basketball star characterized Thomas as a foul-mouthed lout who initially berated her as a “bitch” and a “ho” before his anger gave way to ardor, with Thomas making unwanted advances and encouraging her to visit him “off site.”
Thomas, who was hired in December 2003, followed her to the stand and denied all her allegations. Attorneys for Thomas and the Garden also portrayed Browne Sanders as incompetent and unable to adapt once the former NBA star player 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, who is married with two children, 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.”
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 disaster for the Knicks and the Garden, with intense 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 bitch.”
The trial did steer attention from the Knicks on-court woes as the team geared up for its second season with Thomas as coach. The Knicks finished 33-49 last year, and have yet to win a playoff game during the Thomas regime.
The Knicks opened training camp Tuesday in Charleston, S.C.
Im from NY and if you read all the facts from the beginning to the end you wouldn't be so hard on a brother. Yes there was a hostile environment, however sexual harassment questionable. She has a husband at home so she say. Why did she need to play ball with him? Is Love N Basketball her forte. She doesn't deserve monetary damages.
I just don't understand how you tower over the man and can't whomp his azz with one of those heels you wear. But good for her for proving her point and clearing her name. I don't know how I feel about her getting paid but if she proved to have been in a hostile environment...well...hit em where it hurts most and that's the pocket!
I KNOW THIS CHICK IS LHAO!!SHE IS NOW PAID BY A DUMB-ASS-[EXPLETIVE]! NO ONE CALLS A TOP EXECUTIVE A BITCH AND THINKS THAT SHE NEEDS HER JOB THAT BAD THAT SHE WON'T SUE HIS DUMB-ASS! BUT IF HE CALLED ME ONE WE WOULD HAVE BEEN FIGHTING BECAUSE MEN THINK THAT'S THE COOL THING TO DO AFTER A BITCH DON'T GIVE YOU YOUR WAY! MY BROTHERS WOULD HAVE WAITED FOR HIS DUMB ASS AFTER WORK AND "BITCH-SMACKED"THE [EXPLETIVE] OUT OF HIM! AFTER I CALLED HIS WIFE AND MOTHER ONE AND ME AND HIM WOULD HAVE WENT AT IT! I NEVER HAD A MAN CALL ME A BITCH TO MY FACE UNLESS WE WERE FIGHTING AND I WAS GETTING THE BEST!BUT SHE MUST BE A CHICK FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROCKS BECAUSE WHERE I'M FROM THAT DON'T PLAY!CALL ME A NAME I'M NOT AND WE GONE SEE WHO THE BITCH OR HO IS!? REAL RAPP! THE FRONT PAGE WOULD HAVE READ.........ISIAH THOMAS HAS A BIG EYE FROM HIS CO-WORKER WHOMHE CALLED A BITCH!THEN THE WORLD WOULD KNOW,MEN REALLY AIN'T [EXPLETIVE]!
I bet you that midget is calling her all kinds ob bit-ches, black bit-ches, hoes, tramps, skeezers, skanks and sluts. Him, Jim Dolan and Stephon Marbury are in the bar right about now getting to' up from the flo' up. "That skank ass black bitch. I knew I should have fycked her ass up when all this [EXPLETIVE] started. We wouldn't be having these problems now. Stupid hoe" (slurring the words). Maybe they'll cut Marbury and fire Thomas so they can pay that 11.6 million she just won.
@Saphire.... The poor thing was a BLACK chick out of Cleveland, OH. One of her family members, her grandmother to be exact, said that she and the kids father have been getting into it and he was threatening to take the kids from her and while he was at work she pulled an Andrea Yates. She called him at work and said that the girls were "at peace now". But the neighbor said that she took care of those kids to the fullest so I'm sure something just snapped in that poor childs head to get back at that boyfriend. I've never been that mad at no fu@king man to even think about killing my kids. But my heart goes out to that family.
Sorry MTO for spoiling tomorrows headlines.
You see it's all coming back around to black ppl now,at first we use to be the one's who would never do some shyt like that but now we fit right in the click with the whities.Andrea Yates was the nut who killed her babies,thanks.There isn't shyt in the world that I would do to a my child or anyone elses child,dick is not that damm good,well sometimes it is.lol
I feel bad for the daddy and there family.Thanks Mr.Tiaje the President over FRED...
@SAPHIRE....if you don't hear from me tomorrow you will know why. Here is another story that MIGHT be a headline for MTO to think about.
Halle Berry wants to have another baby with her boyfriend so after the birth of thier 1st child. She is 3 months pregnant, not looking forward to getting married anytime soon because "she already feels like she is married to him". She took 35 pregnancy test before getting a positive reading.
Ta Ta For Now.
To be honest I really don't know what to think about this case??? I just can't believe that Isaiah(How u doin?)Thomas sexually harassed this woman. First off she is NOT cute but then again men will go after anything! So I don't know. Maybe he did try to go after her. To me she looks like a man but who am I to judge. I just don't know
There is no way in hell Zeke tried to kick it to that Ugly BEAST. There are to many fine white and latinas women there and that I know for a fact that Zeke would prefer. What the hell is an ANUCHCA!!!that name sounds UGLY as hell. Did anybody see the mug on this marvelous MUTT!!!This trick looks like she related to UCKLA The MOK from Thundar the Barbarian. The nerve of this Beast to to accuse someone of trying to harass her. You didnt see not one fine white women trying to say some shyt like that. That Hhoe just jealous cause she got that color purple look going for her. Isaih will win the appeal.
DAMN ZEKE!
THESE LIL BROADS CAN SAY ANYTHING THEY WANT AND THE SYSTEM WILL RIDE WITH THESE LYING ASS H--S, WHO IN THE [EXPLETIVE] WOULD TAKE ALL OF THAT HARRASSMENT AND ONLY BRING IT UP WHEN THEY LOSE THEIR JOB, HOW CONVIENT. I'M A RIDE WITH ZEKE BECAUSE I'M A DETRIOTER AND I WAS THERE WHEN HE TOOK US TO TWO CHAMPIANSHIPS. SO EVERYBODY HATING CAN EAT MY DICK.
@jesusjuice Would it have been more believeable if she was an attractive white or latina women as you say. GET THE FUC OUT OF HERE! You kill me thinking that white is right. If he did it then he should be held accountable for his actions. I don't know if she deserves millions but because she is not an attractive black woman then she could be talked to or treated any kind of way. So would you think the same way if she was a pretty white girl or a pretty latina?
Just one more ignorant as hell black jock. I can not believe that Isaiah is that friggin stupid to say to the world that it is normal behavior to refer to a black woman as BITCH. I wonder just how many times he has called his mother or his sisters a bitch? Go back to school Isaiah because it is very obvious that you did not learn anything at the University of Indiana.
That female's whole family have square heads. Kinda like Tyra Banks but flat.
Isaiah prolly though that he wouldn't have any worries getting a not-so-attractive female to give him some. He though wrong.
He definitely crossed the line when he called her a bitch though. I don't know what would possess anyone to make derogatory remarks about a fellow employee - to their face.
