Charles Oakley wins appeal against Madison Square Garden

This is one of those celebrity cases that only arise in the Second Circuit, home of New York City, where famous people live and work and play and bring lawsuits against other famous people.

The case is Oakley v. Dolan, issued on November 16. Plaintiff used to play basketball for the Knicks from 1988 to 1998. Dolan is chairman of the company that owns Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks. Plaintiff is suing Dolan for assault and battery. So what the hell happened here?

According to the complaint, in 2017, plaintiff showed up at MSG to watch a Knicks game, when within minutes of his arrival, Dolan told security to "forcibly remove" plaintiff from the building. The decision suggests that plaintiff was sitting near Dolan. I guess Barkley and Dolan do not like each other. Plaintiff says that security shoved him to the ground and instigated a physical altercation without any provocation. After security grabbed plaintiff some more, he pushed their hands away in self-defense. Security again threw plaintiff to the ground. They then escorted plaintiff out of MSG. 

The district court dismissed the assault and battery claims, finding the complaint did not allege a plausible cause of action. The trial court said, "the mere allegation that the guards subsequently grabbed him and pushed him to the ground is not enough to demonstrate unreasonable force." Also, the district court said, plaintiff did not allege the guards intended to hurt him, and he does not allege excessive force."

The Court of Appeals reinstates the claim. It looks like the trial court may have over-analyzed the complaint. Under the rules guiding motions to dismiss, there is a case here, the Second Circuit (Newman, Calabresi and Carney) says, because "when a plaintiff alleges that he was 'thrown to the ground' by actions that 'greatly exceeded the amount of force that was necessary' and 'clearly exceeded the bounds of reasonable behavior,' and that he 'has suffered and continues to suffer harm,' the reasonable inference to be drawn is that he has been subjected to an unreasonable amount of force."

Plaintiff also brings a disability discrimination and defamation claim, alleging that after this incident happened, Dolan said on the radio that plaintiff has a problem with anger, is physically and mentally abusive, may have an alcohol problem, and had arrived at the game impaired and treated MSG staff abusively. Even if these statements are false, there is no case because plaintiff is a public figure and therefore has to allege the statements were made with malice, i.e. that the speakers had recklessly disregarded they were false. Nor is there a defamation per se claim, which allows plaintiffs to win without showing actual damages as defamation per se inherently damages the victim's reputation. Defamation per se is only proven in a few ways: falsehoods that allege serious criminal conduct, falsehoods that allege a loathsome disease (usually a sexual disease of some kind), or falsehoods that impute unchastity to a woman. The statements at issue in this case involve none of these exceptions. 

The disability claim is also dismissed. Plaintiff says that defendants discriminated against him based on his perceived disability, alcoholism, plaintiff does not adequately plead that he was kicked out of MSG as a result of his perceived alcoholism, as opposed to his alleged inebriation at that time and the resulting disruption." At most, plaintiff is alleging that Dolan speculated after the fact that plaintiff had a problem with alcohol. But since the complaint alleges that Dolan said this because staff were concerned that plaintiff appeared impaired, plaintiff has not alleged that Defendants discriminated against him because they believed he was a alcoholic.