New York Post, October 3, 2007:
In a stunning close to a sensational trial, jurors knocked Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden for sexually harassing and discriminating against a fired team executive - awarding her a whopping $11.6 million in punitive damages.
"She shouldn't have been fired," juror Sally Anne Foster said following the verdict. Asked if the jury meant to send a message, Foster said, "Obviously, we did."
The normally composed Sanders wept as Manhattan federal Judge Gerard Lynch took the verdict, dabbing her eyes with a tissue in her most emotional moment of the three-week trial. Former vice president of marketing for the Knicks, Sanders accused Thomas of spewing curses at her for a year, calling her "bitch" and "ho," and then suddenly changing tactics to profess his love and make sexual advances.
Thomas barely flinched as the jury foreman answered, "Yes," the coach did intentionally discriminate against Sanders based on her sex. But jurors took him off the hook on damages. "What I did here, I did for every working woman in America," Sanders, 44, said outside of court. "That includes everyone who gets up and goes to work in the morning. Everyone who aspires to work in the corporate environment. I want to thank the jury for seeing through to the truth," Sanders said before joining hands with her family and lawyers in a prayer circle.
For more details see: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10032007/news/regionalnews/11m_kick_in_harass.htm
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