Dolan won the lawsuit Oakley brought against him.

[Kblaze8855]

He claimed in his suit he was being unfairly targeted for making jabs at Dolan, who was also in attendance, while personnel from the Garden claimed Oakley was drunk and belligerent.
On Wednesday, Judge Richard Sullivan sided with Dolan and MSG, saying Oakley failed to make a plausible legal argument to support his claims and ordered that the suit be dismissed.
“From its inception, this case has had the feel of a public relations campaign, with the parties seemingly more interested in the court of public opinion than the merits of their legal arguments. That is perhaps understandable, given the personal and public nature of the dispute,” Sullivan wrote.
“But while basketball fans in general, and Knicks fans in particular, are free to form their own opinions about who was in the right and whether Oakley’s ejection was motivated by something more than the whims of the teams owner, the fact remains that Oakley has failed to allege a plausible legal claim that can meet federal pleading standards.”
Sullivan also ruled Dolan and MSG had every right to kick Oakley out because they are the landlords of the stadium.
“Oakley grossly misunderstands the law concerning a landlord’s right to remove a trespasser from its property. The law is clear that the MSG defendants had the right to expel Oakley from the Garden and that his refusal to leave justified their use of reasonable force to remove him,” Sullivan wrote.
“Having refused to comply with Defendants’ lawful directive that he leave the premises, Oakley cannot cry foul merely because Garden security guards exercised the lawful right to remove him from the arena.”
In a statement, MSG praised the dismissal but acknowledged it was an “incident that no one was happy about.”
“Maybe now there can be peace between us,” the statement read.

[Kblaze8855]

Essentially...Dolan can kick out whoever he wants for pretty much whatever reason. Which everyone should already know. He does actually own the Garden(through his dad I believe). Comes right down to it....its his. He can kick you out.

[Da_Realist]

I don't like it but the judge was legally right here. This isn't about whether Dolan is a good person or whether he did the right thing. I don't know all the facts but it would take a lot for me as the owner of the New York Knicks to kick out an ex-player that bleeds the blue and orange but Dolan does have the right to do it.

[Haymaker]

Judge was probably on Dolan's pocket or the lawsuit was poorly redacted.

[iamgine]

Does he have to own the place though? I thought being a landlord just means you have the legal permission from the building's owner to perform landlord duties, which includes kicking someone out. In that case every team owner or even the GM can do it.

[red1]

oakley is the man. **** dolan even if he's legally in the right.

[insidehoops]

Would have been interesting to see clear video of that actual incident

[eliteballer]

The Knicks being as horrible as they are is so bad for the league and sport.

They should be a Lakers level franchise in terms of magnitude.

[imdaman99]

Nobody in NY likes Dolan

[DoctorP]

Nobody in NY likes Dolan

new yorkers dont like anyone, really. they can hardly stand each other.

[DCL]

you have the legal right to be an asshole

[DoctorP]

you have the legal right to be an asshole

yelp evens the field. at least for small businesses.

[brooks_thompson]

I love Oak, but the story that he was drinking and decided to talk some shit is too plausible to take his side from a legal point of view. There are more egregious battles to fight when it comes to the law making a ruling that follows the literal letter instead of common sense justice. Media just piled on this event because it's the Knicks. It's honestly gotten old. Ha ha ha ha, we get it, go bash the Timberwolves for a while.