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 legal professional charges and prices to Madison Sq. Backyard of their ongoing authorized battle stemming from his 2017 ejection from a sport.
On Oct. 31, the previous Knicks star, who performed for the crew from 1988 to 1998, was hit with the hefty order as a sanction for shedding 5 years of textual content messages that might have served as proof in his lawsuit over the 2017 ejection, Reuters experiences. 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 decide lowered 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, sport between the Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.
In his most up-to-date amended criticism from April 2024, Oakley alleges assault and battery towards 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 had been misplaced when he upgraded to a brand new telephone after his earlier gadget broke. Nonetheless, a federal decide famous in July that Oakley had upgraded his telephone earlier than with out shedding any texts.
“The courtroom concludes that Oakley’s lack of his textual content messages can’t be credibly defined as involving something aside from dangerous religion,” U.S. Circuit Decide Richard Sullivan stated within the July order.
Following Tarnofsky’s current ruling, Oakley should both pay the charges or await the result of his deliberate attraction. His legal professional, Valdi Licul, a companion at Wigdor representing Oakley, said that they “disagree that MSG is entitled to any restoration and can promptly search to attraction.”
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