November 4, 2025
Charles Oakley has been ordered to pay greater than $642,000 to Madison Sq. Backyard as a sanction in his ongoing authorized dispute.
New York Knicks All-Star Charles Oakley has been ordered to pay over $642,000 in lawyer charges and prices to Madison Sq. Backyard of their ongoing authorized battle stemming from his 2017 ejection from a recreation.
On Oct. 31, the previous Knicks star, who performed for the group from 1988 to 1998, was hit with the hefty order as a sanction for dropping 5 years of textual content messages that might have served as proof in his lawsuit over the 2017 ejection, Reuters reviews. U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Robyn Tarnofsky set the quantity decrease than Madison Sq. Backyard’s request—its attorneys at King & Spalding had sought over $1.5 million in charges, however the choose diminished the determine.
Oakley, a 19-year NBA veteran and longtime fan favourite, performed as an influence ahead for the Knicks and has had a long-running feud with James Dolan, proprietor of Madison Sq. Backyard and the Knicks. He sued Madison Sq. Backyard after being ejected from his courtside seat throughout a Feb. 8, 2017, recreation between the Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.
In his most up-to-date amended criticism from April 2024, Oakley alleges assault and battery in opposition to the stadium and its affiliated entities, which have denied any wrongdoing.
In August 2024, Oakley’s attorneys said that he had misplaced all textual content messages despatched or acquired between Feb. 8, 2017, and February 2022, claiming the messages have been misplaced when he upgraded to a brand new telephone after his earlier system broke. Nonetheless, a federal choose famous in July that Oakley had upgraded his telephone earlier than with out dropping any texts.
“The courtroom concludes that Oakley’s lack of his textual content messages can’t be credibly defined as involving something apart from unhealthy religion,” U.S. Circuit Decide Richard Sullivan mentioned within the July order.
Following Tarnofsky’s latest ruling, Oakley should both pay the charges or await the result of his deliberate enchantment. His lawyer, Valdi Licul, a accomplice at Wigdor representing Oakley, said that they “disagree that MSG is entitled to any restoration and can promptly search to enchantment.”
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