It's a authorized rating for MSG.
Former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley should pay greater than $642,000 in lawyer charges to Madison Sq. Backyard for deleting textual content messages throughout a court docket battle over his ejection from a recreation eight years in the past, in response to court docket paperwork.
The 61-year-old former energy ahead — who filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to the world agency and its CEO James Dolan in September 2017 — is accused of sending the corporate's high-priced attorneys on a wallet-busting wild goose chase.
“On or round July 10, 2024, [Oakley's] counsel found that each one textual content messages despatched to or from [his] telephone previous to February 2022 had been deleted,” the court docket papers, filed Friday in New York federal court docket, state.
Although the basketball star had been subpoenaed for the texts, Oakley had “not ever try[ed] to protect, acquire, picture, or copy [his]private units,” in response to the court docket paperwork.
Attorneys utilized by MSG Networks — together with Randy Mastro, who now works for Mayor Eric Adams' administration — charged massive bucks, raking in $1,709 an hour, in response to the court docket papers.
MSG had initially demanded the ex-NBA participant fork over roughly $1.5 million, however Choose Robyn Tarnofsky tallied it as much as $642,337.65 in attorneys' charges and prices.
In 2017, Oakley was kicked out of the world over a confrontation with safety guards. The incident led to his arrest, however legal costs have been later dismissed.
He later sued for defamation, arguing that Dolan had implied he had a consuming drawback in statements the CEO made to the press.
A civil lawsuit was dismissed by a Manhattan federal choose in 2020.
“The court docket denied most of MSG's wildly inflated price request,” Oakley's lawyer, Valdi Licul, mentioned of the ruling to Front Office Sports.
“Nonetheless, we disagree that MSG is entitled to any restoration and can promptly search to enchantment.”
Through the ejection, the Knicks claimed Oakley was yelling continuous at Dolan — however the hoopster denied that, saying he was requested to depart the world for no motive, not lengthy after taking his seat.
“He's each bodily and verbally abusive. He might have an issue with alcohol; we don't know, proper?” Dolan advised the media shortly afterward in a assertion that prompted the defamation swimsuit.
Final yr, Oakley mentioned Dolan's legal professionals invited him to a Knicks recreation, however he declined to go.
“They've bought to apologize,” he advised the Related Press. “We'll go from there. Can [Dolan] be man sufficient to say errors occur, and he made one?”
Attorneys from MSG didn't instantly return a request for remark.
