Sexual Harassment Suit Settled with New York's Madison Square Garden
This month, Anucha Browne Sanders and Madison Square Garden settled Sanders’ sexual harassment suit for $11.5 million. This development comes some two months after Sanders was awarded $11.6 million in punitive damages by a New York federal jury.
Before the settlement, the case was to enter into another damages phase where Judge Gerard E. Lynch was to hear arguments and decide on the outstanding question of Sanders’ compensatory damages, which would include back pay. This additional damages phase would potentially have added millions to the jury’s verdict.
Even though the Sanders case has been settled, Madison Square Garden has not resolved all of the sexual harassment claims made against it. Former New York Rangers cheerleader Courtney Prince filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Madison Square Garden in New York federal court in 2004.
It is unclear what effect Sanders’ trial and subsequent settlement will have on the Prince matter. Sanders’ case may have made it more difficult for the plaintiffs and defendants in the Prince case to arrive at an agreement. In the wake of the $11.5 million settlement, the stakes are considerably higher and Madison Square Garden had previously rejected the recommendation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to settle the matter for about $800,000.
