Charles Oakley wins right to jury decision on assault claim
NEW YORK – A jury can decide whether former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley was ejected from Madison Square Garden with excessive force when he was removed as a spectator to a 2017 game, an appeals court ruled Monday. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated assault and battery claims Oakley made in a lawsuit brought against the team’s owners after his February 2017 removal from a game the Knicks lost to the Los Angeles Clippers. The appeals court, though, rejected Oakley's claims of defamation and false imprisonment. Oakley was a Knicks fan favorite from 1988 to 1998. It said Dolan and Madison Square Garden then launched a defamatory public relations campaign, accusing Oakley of abusing fans and staff, acting inappropriately and struggling with alcoholism.
Judge dismisses ex-Knicks star Oakley's lawsuit against Dolan, MSG over removal from game
REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File PhotoNEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has dismissed former New York Knicks star Charles Oakleys lawsuit against team owner James Dolan stemming from his forcible, televised ejection from a basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan said Oakley failed to show that the defendants, including Madison Square Garden Co and MSG Networks Inc, defamed him by falsely branding him an alcoholic and accusing him of assaulting Garden workers at the Feb. 8, 2017, game. Sullivan also said Oakley failed to show that his treatment by Garden personnel at the game amounted to assault and battery, as well as false imprisonment. A lawyer for Dolan and the MSG defendants did not immediately respond to similar requests. Sullivan was a federal district judge when the lawsuit was filed, and now sits on the 2nd U.S.
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