The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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NEW YORK (AP) -- The former New York Knicks executive who filed a $10 million sexual harassment lawsuit against coach Isiah Thomas testified Tuesday that the NBA legend repeatedly called her derogatory names in private conversations before abruptly switching gears and professing his love.

Anucha Browne Sanders told a jury of five women and three men that Thomas, the Knicks' head coach and president of basketball operations, would blow up any time she tried to recruit him or his players for marketing campaigns.

"Bitch, I'm here to win basketball games," Browne Sanders quoted Thomas as saying in the workplace.

In another discussion about season ticket holders, she claimed Thomas said, "Bitch, I don't give a (expletive) about these white people."

Outside court, an attorney for Thomas, Sue Ellen Eisenberg, called the allegations "unfounded and outrageous."

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Link

The plaintiff in this case is a neighbor of one of my best friends. His take when it all started is that there's no way she's making this stuff up; and of course this testimony is under oath.

I didn't think I could hate this guy more. But maybe I can.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

There would have been no better face for the Pistons than Isiah. Them washing thier hands of him when his playing days were over says alot about him.(or they just knew he was incompetent).

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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"Bitch, I'm here to win basketball games," Browne Sanders quoted Thomas as saying in the workplace.

In another discussion about season ticket holders, she claimed Thomas said, "Bitch, I don't give a (expletive) about these white people."

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If this is all that happened this is retarded.

It's like "Here's 10 million because you have a vagina."

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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"Bitch, I'm here to win basketball games," Browne Sanders quoted Thomas as saying in the workplace.

In another discussion about season ticket holders, she claimed Thomas said, "Bitch, I don't give a (expletive) about these white people."

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If this is all that happened this is retarded.

It's like "Here's 10 million because you have a vagina."

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Seriously, if that's all there is to the story, that's pretty tame. He called me bitch twice, I can't go on with my life, give me money! Yeah, it's inappropriate, but it deserves an apology and a reprimand, not anywhere close to ten million bucks.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

This assclown is like the Barry Bonds of basketball. Incredible accomplishments on the field of play, suspect behavior off the field.

Thomas wrecked the 50+ year old CBA when he was supposed to be "saving" it, he ran amok with the Pacers and I'm sure Larry Legend was delighted to shitcan his old nemesis, and now he's trainwrecking the Knicks.

None of this would bother me that much if he wasn't widely considered the biggest two-faced, self-serving prick ever to grace the hardwood. Good riddance. Character matters. I hope he takes a bath on this.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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"Bitch, I'm here to win basketball games," Browne Sanders quoted Thomas as saying in the workplace.

In another discussion about season ticket holders, she claimed Thomas said, "Bitch, I don't give a (expletive) about these white people."

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If this is all that happened this is retarded.

It's like "Here's 10 million because you have a vagina."

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I think he's being sued for 10 million dollars b/c he allegedly harrassed her sexually.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

can i hate both parties involved in this? i mean, $10m? ok then.........

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

And some people would say those quotes above are sexual harassing.


What's your point?

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

You guys that are laughing about $10 million really should think a little more about it before you post some mocking comment.

While the amount often alleged as damages in a complaint usually bears little relation to the damages that ultimately will be awarded, in this case, $10 million is not crazy. She is not suing for $10 million because she was so hurt by Isiah's words that she needs $10 million in tissues to mop up all of the tears.

Just as an example, off the top of my head -- She alleges that she was fired because she complained, which is "illegal" for lack of a better word. She made $300,000 a year. If she worked for 20 years for the Garden, that's $6 million, without considering raises. She alleges that the Garden fired her for complaining. If true, she could easily recover punitive damages. The Garden is a pretty big business, so in order to make sure they are properly punished, and as a detriment to this happening again, a punitive award could be well into the millions. Poof there's $10 million, and that's not even considering any damage award she could recover against Isiah directly, who might have plenty of money but then again if he treats his bank account like the CBA he's living on food stamps.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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She made $300,000 a year. If she worked for 20 years for the Garden, that's $6 million, without considering raises.

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This assumes she can't get any job in the future, i.e. Isiah didn't rob her of the ability to work. Also the interest on $6M is $300k per year, not just for 20 years, essentially for ever. You aren't discounting the future value of the cash either, i.e. raises aren't guaranteed, but the value of a dollar ten years from now is much less than it is today in a court settlement. Essentially she is saying, my feelings were hurt so the Garden should support me in my current lifestyle forever so I don't have to work.

I despise both parties. I despise Isiah for being Isiah. I despise this woman for being a money grubbing attention whore. People who are skilled at their jobs don't sue over minor crap like this. People who luckboxed their way into a a job they were failing at, do.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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The plaintiff in this case is a neighbor of one of my best friends. His take when it all started is that there's no way she's making this stuff up; and of course this testimony is under oath.

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Let me understand this part. A guy you know who lives near the plaintiff says her testimony is truthful. Is this silliest assertion ever. How well does anyone know their neighbors? How well do you know your friends judgement? Many people who live next to a murderer say, "wow, he was such a nice guy, I can't believe he did it". We all have relationships with people that we would classify as "nice people" who are screaming psychopaths underneath their layer of civility.

And it's interesting you didn't quote the reason she was fired.

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Madison Square Garden, which owns the team, insists Browne Sanders' dismissal followed a series of marketing and budgeting failures and came after MSG Chairman James Dolan discovered she had tried to subvert an internal investigation of her harassment claims.

Dolan, also a defendant in the case, decided Browne Sanders "could not be counted on to do her job after that," MSG lawyer Ronald Green said.

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I think the Dolans are morans, so I can't argue to give that much weight to their testimony. But in fairness they have the same amount of incentive to lie as she does.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

I listened to Boomer and Carton on WFAN 660 am NY radio this morning on the way in to work.

She feels that MSG fired her unjustly because she complained about sexual harrasment from Isiah Thomas. Basically unjustified firing.

She received excellent work reviews from manangement in the 2+ years prior to her termination.

She will win this one going away.

If anyone had any doubt what a creepy scumbag Isiah Thomas acted like before, they will know now.

According to her testimony he basically said (fff-censored) the white man, and created a hostile work environment.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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I despise this woman for being a money grubbing attention whore. People who are skilled at their jobs don't sue over minor crap like this. People who luckboxed their way into a a job they were failing at, do.

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This is total [censored]. Utter [censored].

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

Man people who can't take a little "bitch" here and there need to relax a little.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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Man people who can't take a little "bitch" here and there need to relax a little.

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All she probably needed was a good deep dicking. That's all most women need.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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Let me understand this part. A guy you know who lives near the plaintiff says her testimony is truthful. Is this silliest assertion ever. How well does anyone know their neighbors? How well do you know your friends judgement? Many people who live next to a murderer say, "wow, he was such a nice guy, I can't believe he did it". We all have relationships with people that we would classify as "nice people" who are screaming psychopaths underneath their layer of civility.

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What's your axe to grind against me?

I posted that thing about the friend to say, FOR WHATEVER VALUE THE READER WANTS TO GIVE IT, that I know someone who knows the woman and would vouch for her. That's it. If you choose to give that any value, great. If not, great. I don't really give a [censored].

I don't know the woman. I don't care about the woman. But I am tremendously bothered when people -- young men, who have not experienced and likely will never experience sexual harrassment -- belittle her claim and jump to the Garden's defense, without knowing anything about the case other than what they read in one Yahoo article summarizing the first day of her testimony.

This attitude that a woman who sues for being sexually harrassed, or who makes a claim that involves anything short of a rape, is automatically a money-grubbing whore is disgusting.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

If someone in a basketball game says "bitch I'm here to win basketball games", then I say right on. Because that's the damn truth.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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She made $300,000 a year. If she worked for 20 years for the Garden, that's $6 million, without considering raises.

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This assumes she can't get any job in the future, i.e. Isiah didn't rob her of the ability to work.

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Take a wild guess as to how likely someone that sued someone for sexual harassment - no matter how well deserved - in a basketball environment is to find a job in sports again.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

Call be crazy, but I don't think anyone should have to put up with being called bitch at his or her job. The attitude that she should shut up and take it is ridiculous.

This is not to say that $10m is fair, but that's the game (highly litigious society and all that).

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

for 300k a year, you can take a little "bitch" here and there. Sports isn't for the faint of heart imho.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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for 300k a year, you can take a little "bitch" here and there. Sports isn't for the faint of heart imho.

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Meh

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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And some people would say those quotes above are sexual harassing.


What's your point?

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My point is that Thomas probably said more to her than "hey, you're a bitch."

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

She could have made much more AND ruined his life by marrying him.

Bitch, You couldn't have misplayed that hand more!

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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And some people would say those quotes above are sexual harassing.


What's your point?

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My point is that Thomas probably said more to her than "hey, you're a bitch."

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You'd think that the most salacious details would be reported through, wouldn't you?

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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And some people would say those quotes above are sexual harassing.


What's your point?

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My point is that Thomas probably said more to her than "hey, you're a bitch."

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It sounds like sexual harrasment and when she denied him sex it became a hostile environment.

I agree with Tyler here.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

it's right there in the OP:

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The NBA legend repeatedly called her derogatory names in private conversations before abruptly switching gears and professing his love.

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That's a [censored] up work relationship, even if you don't assume physical advances of any kind. Yeah, $10M is a bit steep, but if I were going up against the Dolan's I'd swing for the fences, too.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

Also, thanks to this litigious broad we have an NBA-ish thread in the middle of all these *****OFFICIAL EVERY GODDAMNED TEAM IN THE NFL AND MLB***** threads, so for that I'm grateful. Seven more weeks, y'all.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

By the way, tucks, word is that she's going to testify tomorrow that Isiah called Steve Nash a "honky".

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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By the way, tucks, word is that she's going to testify tomorrow that Isiah called Steve Nash a "honky".

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Last time I checked, Steve Nash was a honky.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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Man people who can't take a little "bitch" here and there need to relax a little.

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All she probably needed was a good deep dicking. That's all most women need.

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chuckle

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/7...shermance1.jpg

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

I met Isiah Thomas in Toronto once (that's really my only connection to him lol) when he was back with them, so long ass time ago and I was just a kid. I remember one of his assistants telling him of a big problem (I assume with the Raptors), and he was all chill and calm.

He must be a serial killer.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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By the way, tucks, word is that she's going to testify tomorrow that Isiah called Steve Nash a "honky".

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WTF with that lying bitch, tell her to leave MVSteve out of this.

EDIT: oh wait she's saying Isiah is dogging Steve. My bad. Sexually harassed chick for mod!

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

This lawsuit is BS.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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She made $300,000 a year. If she worked for 20 years for the Garden, that's $6 million, without considering raises.

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This assumes she can't get any job in the future, i.e. Isiah didn't rob her of the ability to work.

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Take a wild guess as to how likely someone that sued someone for sexual harassment - no matter how well deserved - in a basketball environment is to find a job in sports again.

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My point was that $10M effectively doubles her income for the rest of her life, if she gets a job working at McDonalds or someplace even better.

And if she didn't sue, and was qualified, she could have left and got a similar job. I wonder how good an employee she really was though. If she is a great employee, she hasn't closed the door to similar jobs, just made future employers a little more wary, but she can overcome that in interviews.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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I listened to Boomer and Carton on WFAN 660 am NY radio this morning on the way in to work.

She feels that MSG fired her unjustly because she complained about sexual harrasment from Isiah Thomas. Basically unjustified firing.

She received excellent work reviews from manangement in the 2+ years prior to her termination.


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You are taking plaintiff's assertions at face value. She might have had nothing but excellent work reviews, or she might have had some excellent work reviews mixed with poor reviews. She may have had mediocre reviews that plaintiff counsel is spinning as "excellent".

The defense claims that her recent work performance was poor, that she missed her budgets, and tried to subvert the internal investigation of her allegations (the most reasonable interpretation was that she tried to influence witnesses to back her story). Why don't you take the defenses word for it?

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She will win this one going away.

If anyone had any doubt what a creepy scumbag Isiah Thomas acted like before, they will know now.

According to her testimony he basically said (fff-censored) the white man, and created a hostile work environment.

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Saying F the white man isn't sexual harrassment. Since she was neither white nor a man, it isn't even creating a hostile work environment for her.

The winner of this suit will be the party that is most believable. We don't have enough information yet on who that is. Of course the Dolans and Isiah are scummy idiots, but I think we have to leave that aside in order to give them a fair trial. After all the judge isn't going to let Isiah's trade record, or the Dolans sports management history be entered as evidence.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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Let me understand this part. A guy you know who lives near the plaintiff says her testimony is truthful. Is this silliest assertion ever. How well does anyone know their neighbors? How well do you know your friends judgement? Many people who live next to a murderer say, "wow, he was such a nice guy, I can't believe he did it". We all have relationships with people that we would classify as "nice people" who are screaming psychopaths underneath their layer of civility.

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What's your axe to grind against me?

I posted that thing about the friend to say, FOR WHATEVER VALUE THE READER WANTS TO GIVE IT, that I know someone who knows the woman and would vouch for her. That's it. If you choose to give that any value, great. If not, great. I don't really give a [censored].


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I have no axe at all. You posted your friends opinion. I pointed out that his opinion was likely to be worthless because he wasn't ina position to know or judge. If you choose to give that any value, great. If not, you should think about it.

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I don't know the woman. I don't care about the woman. But I am tremendously bothered when people -- young men, who have not experienced and likely will never experience sexual harrassment -- belittle her claim and jump to the Garden's defense, without knowing anything about the case other than what they read in one Yahoo article summarizing the first day of her testimony.


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I never jumped to the Garden's defense. I just pointed out that they had one, and that you were ignoring it.

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This attitude that a woman who sues for being sexually harrassed, or who makes a claim that involves anything short of a rape, is automatically a money-grubbing whore is disgusting.

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I never called her a whore. I called her a ATTENTION WHORE. There is a big difference. She earned the title by calling press conferences to publicize her lawsuit.

The only real negative thing I said about her is I'm suspicious a real standout employee would immediately go the lawsuit route, instead of just landing another job. My experience is that there are people who claim sexual harrassment use it to shield themselves from their own performance problems.

At my last company we had a female salesperson who was very good, and got very good reviews, for a while. She began to slip in performance. She also slept with a few co-workers. She complained that one was harrassing her (he fell in love with her after she slept with him and wouldn't leave her alone). So we terminated him to cover our ass. Later we discovered that while she was complaining of harrassment, she'd occasionally still booty call the poor guy, which is one of the reasons he was so confused (the other reason was he was a very intense software engineer who rarely got laid so any girl that would sleep with him he immediately wanted to marry).

So I've learned to be suspicious of these cases and the motives of all involved.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

Hey niss I think zeek is a creep and the woman probably was sexually harassed by him. Don't you think that they'll need a little more than this woman's testimony to find for her? Zeek has no doubt has given a deposition and he probably won't look too good to the jury after testifying. I'm sure they have more than just her testimony though.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

Adios/Desert Cat,

I have no idea about the strength of her case. I have handled a few sexual harassment cases -- only from the management side. The plaintiff starts with an advantage when she is able to submit any competent proof of harassment. Management is then on the defensive. Here I don't like the record for the Garden -- she makes a complaint and winds up getting fired. On its face, that doesn't look good, and I would counsel management to do whatever they can NOT to fire the complainant unless absolutely necessary. But maybe in this case it was necessary. We'll see. Tough position to support but not impossible. The way the Garden has handled this, they either have an exceptionally strong case or they are a bunch of idiots. Given what we seem to know about Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas, I am not adverse to believing the latter.

The idea that she could easily get a similar job is a difficult one to prove. She works in marketing (I think) for an NBA team. How many of them are there? 32? How many are in her area of the country? 2? 4 if you broadly define the area? How many other pro (non-NBA) basketball teams are there around? Not many. So it would be very, very difficult for her to get a similar job. And even if she could get another job, say for a NBDL team, or maybe for a college, she sure as hell ain't going to make as much money as she did with the Knicks.

You (Desert Cat) also don't know that she "immediately" went the lawsuit route. How do you know she didn't try to resolve this with them outside of court? I don't know that, and in EVERY case of this type I've handled the plaintiff has made a claim and attempted to negotiate a resolution before a lawsuit. Believe it or not, but people -- even lawyers, especially plaintiff's lawyers working on a contingency -- generally do not want to go into court unless they have to, for a variety of reasons.

As for her being an "attention whore", she is no different than any other plaintiff in a similar case against a prominent public entity. They use every angle they can extract as much money out of the defendant as possible. I think trying cases in the press stinks; but if you were her attorney you would be foolish not recommend that she use publicity as leverage. That doesn't mean that we can automatically assume that she is an "attention whore". If she has a real case, I am sure she did not go into this seeking "attention", and would prefer that the whole thing never happened. She is a professional woman living in a very ritzy area of New Jersey, with kids in public school. I am willing to assume she is intelligent enough to realize that she's not doing herself and her family any favors with publicity, and would not do so unless she and her attorney felt there was a necessity or real value to doing so. If she doesn't have a real case, well then I think we all would agree that she is a scumbag.

Re: The Isiah Thomas civil trial
 

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Adios/Desert Cat,

I have no idea about the strength of her case. I have handled a few sexual harassment cases -- only from the management side. The plaintiff starts with an advantage when she is able to submit any competent proof of harassment. Management is then on the defensive. Here I don't like the record for the Garden -- she makes a complaint and winds up getting fired. On its face, that doesn't look good, and I would counsel management to do whatever they can NOT to fire the complainant unless absolutely necessary. But maybe in this case it was necessary. We'll see. Tough position to support but not impossible. The way the Garden has handled this, they either have an exceptionally strong case or they are a bunch of idiots. Given what we seem to know about Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas, I am not adverse to believing the latter.

The idea that she could easily get a similar job is a difficult one to prove. She works in marketing (I think) for an NBA team. How many of them are there? 32? How many are in her area of the country? 2? 4 if you broadly define the area? How many other pro (non-NBA) basketball teams are there around? Not many. So it would be very, very difficult for her to get a similar job. And even if she could get another job, say for a NBDL team, or maybe for a college, she sure as hell ain't going to make as much money as she did with the Knicks.

You (Desert Cat) also don't know that she "immediately" went the lawsuit route. How do you know she didn't try to resolve this with them outside of court? I don't know that, and in EVERY case of this type I've handled the plaintiff has made a claim and attempted to negotiate a resolution before a lawsuit. Believe it or not, but people -- even lawyers, especially plaintiff's lawyers working on a contingency -- generally do not want to go into court unless they have to, for a variety of reasons.

As for her being an "attention whore", she is no different than any other plaintiff in a similar case against a prominent public entity. They use every angle they can extract as much money out of the defendant as possible. I think trying cases in the press stinks; but if you were her attorney you would be foolish not recommend that she use publicity as leverage. That doesn't mean that we can automatically assume that she is an "attention whore". If she has a real case, I am sure she did not go into this seeking "attention", and would prefer that the whole thing never happened. She is a professional woman living in a very ritzy area of New Jersey, with kids in public school. I am willing to assume she is intelligent enough to realize that she's not doing herself and her family any favors with publicity, and would not do so unless she and her attorney felt there was a necessity or real value to doing so. If she doesn't have a real case, well then I think we all would agree that she is a scumbag.

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Niss,

Exceptional post.

I listened to the details of the case on the way to my office this morning on WFAN 660 AM radio NY.

This story graced the covers of all three local papers.