Pardalis & Nohavicka False Arrest/Imprisonment Update: Corporate-Courtside-Seat Fan Ejected From Basketball Game and Arrested for Disruptive Behavior, Sues MSG
It was January 7, 2014, and the Knicks were taking on the Pistons at Madison Square Garden. Carmelo Anthony scored 13 of his 34 points in the pivotal third quarter putting the score at 73 to 58. In the 4th quarter, the Pistons scored 27 points to the Knicks’ 17, but Carmelo made the clinching free throws with 2.9 seconds left to seal a NY victory – 89-85. Now, here is the case:
During the 4th quarter, an equity finance trader, was ejected from his court-side corporate seat for disruptive behavior during a game that he was attending with his boss at ING Financial Services and their clients, some of which was directed at Carmelo Anthony, a Knicks player. The trader was escorted from his seat by MSG security personnel and arrested by the NYPD. He was fired from his job two days later. The finance trader denied any inappropriate behavior, and claimed to have merely stated "Carmelo, you stink," after the Knicks "squandered a fourteen point lead in the 4th quarter. The trader sued the Garden for defamation and for false imprisonment. The Garden’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss.
The court dismissed the defamation claim because the information provided to the NYPD by MSG security personnel was privileged.
But the false imprisonment/ false arrest claim survives. (The trader did not win, he just gets to work his way toward a trial). The court stated that the allegations that MSG knowingly "gave false statements to the police with the intent of having plaintiff arrested," along with his allegations that he was then detained for a period of time, arrested, and charged with several offenses, sufficiently support his claim that MSG possessed (1)the requisite intent to cause his confinement, (2) that he was conscious of the confinement, (3)that he did not consent to the confinement, and (4) that MSG lacked any privilege to cause the confinement.
The case is being litigated in a Manhattan Court. Do you thing the equity trader’s lawyers will have trouble getting a jury without any Knick fans?
The case is here: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/pdfs/2017/2017_31956.pdf