Isiah Thomas Sex Harassment Suit Settles
Madison Square Garden has settled the sexual harassment case involving the New York Knicks and basketball legend Isiah Thomas described previously in the Blawg here and here.
According to published reports, the amount of the settlement is $11.5 million, or $100,000 less than the punitive damages the court awarded the plaintiff, Anucha Browne Sanders, on October 2. The suit was set for a hearing later this week to decide whether Browne Sanders was entitled to additional compensatory damages.
“I am extremely pleased that we have reached a settlement,” Browne Sanders said. “The jury’s verdict in this case sent a powerful and enduring message that harassment and retaliation at Madison Square Garden will not be tolerated.”
The tone of the Garden’s statement was decidedly less celebratory: “The outcome was a travesty of justice and we vehemently disagree with the jury’s decision, however, at the strong request of [the NBA Commissioner] and in the interest of focusing on basketball, we can all agree that it is time for us to move on and put this issue behind us.”
The trial was a public relations nightmare for the Garden, the Knicks and Thomas. Commentators openly questioned their strategy of refusing to settle despite the sensational nature of the allegations and the high degree of probability that the plaintiff would prevail at trial. As NBA Commissioner David Stern remarked: “It demonstrates that they’re not a model of intelligent management. There were many checkpoints along the way where more decisive action would have eliminated the issue.”
The lessons? Again, (1) take decisive investigatory action on all complaints of discrimination or harassment and (2) strongly consider early settlement if there is evidence of wrongdoing and/or risk of serious PR damage. Had the Knicks done both those things, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now.
