{"id":322109,"date":"2026-08-15T15:34:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/322109\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T15:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T15:34:43","slug":"charles-oakleys-case-against-msg-gets-dismissed-for-third-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/322109\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Oakley’s case against MSG gets dismissed for third time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charles Oakley\u2019s lawsuit against Madison Square Garden and owner James Dolan was dismissed for a third time Friday, concluding another chapter to the legal battle involving the former Knicks star that dates back to when he was ejected from the Garden<\/a> following an altercation with security guards in February 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MSG said in a statement that the claims were dismissed by the court \u201cin their entirety\u201d and that it planned to pursue legal action against Douglas Wigdor \u2014 Oakley\u2019s lawyer \u2014 and \u201chis unscrupulous law firm.\u201d Wigdor, in a statement to The Post, expressed disappointment with the court\u2019s ruling and still hoped for a jury trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than nine years, Mr. Oakley\u2019s lawyers have pursued claims they knew were false,\u201d MSG said in its statement. \u201cThose claims have now been dismissed by the Court in their entirety \u2014 for a third time. We are pursuing legal action against Douglas Wigdor, and his unscrupulous law firm, to hold them accountable for years of frivolous litigation and their blatant abuse of the judicial system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former New York Knicks player Charles Oakley, rear left, exchanges words with a security guard during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Knicks and the Los Angeles Clippers in New York on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017. AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II<\/p>\n

The case was initially tossed in early 2020, revived later that year, tossed again in 2021 and then revived for a second time in May 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disappointed with the Court\u2019s rulings,\u201d Wigdor said in his statement to The Post. \u201cWe believe there are conflicting accounts and only a jury can decide what exactly happened. We are hopeful that the Second Circuit will agree for a third time and remand the case for an immediate jury trial.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knicks alumnus Charles Oakley sits courtside during the first half of a game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Utah Jazz on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

Oakley, who spent 10 years as a player for the Knicks and was a key piece of the franchise\u2019s success in the 1990s, was arrested and removed from the Garden<\/a> during the Knicks game on Feb. 8, 2017, and while the charges were dropped, he filed a lawsuit later that year<\/a> \u2014 alleging, in part, assault, false imprisonment and defamation. That lawsuit was dismissed in February 2020<\/a>. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal<\/a> of the battery and assault claims in November 2020. When the appeals court reversed it for a second time<\/a> in 2023, it ruled that the \u201cquestion of whether the use of force was reasonable under the circumstances is generally best left for a jury to decide.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But more than three years later, a third dismissal followed. In circuit judge Richard J. Sullivan\u2019s opinion and order, he wrote that \u201cno rational jury could conclude that Oakley reasonably feared himself at risk of wrongful physical contact \u2014 let alone that MSG intended to stir such an apprehension.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the alleged assault occurred in the middle of Madison Square Garden in front of 19,000 and scores of cameras, Oakley concedes there\u2019s no other witness \u2014 besides himself \u2014 who says he was pushed to the ground,\u201d Sullivan wrote on the first page of his opinion and order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charles Oakley of the New York Knicks goes up for a block against the San Antonio Spurs circa 1994 at Madison Square Garden. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Oakley\u2019s public feud with Dolan has loomed over the Knicks since it began. The Post\u2019s Jared Schwartz reported in 2025 that the team was willing to welcome Oakley back as a \u201ccelebrated team alumnus\u201d if he dropped the lawsuit. An initial ban instituted by Dolan in 2017 had been lifted. Oakley attended playoff games on the road during the Knicks\u2019 championship run in the spring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmple evidence \u2014 including videos from multiple angles and the unanimous testimony of every witness (even, to some extent, Oakley himself) \u2014 shows that Oakley had a reasonable opportunity to depart the Garden, that he instead resorted to physical violence, and that he was never pushed to the ground,\u201d Sullivan wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charles Oakley\u2019s lawsuit against Madison Square Garden and owner James Dolan was dismissed for a third time Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6068,44350,2850,222,57,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":["post-322109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-celebrity-lawsuits","tag-charles-oakley","tag-lawsuits","tag-madison-square-garden","tag-metro","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}