A Madison Square Garden attorney was scolded by a judge during a tense hearing Monday over a lawsuit accusing the company of wrongfully barring lawyers from attending games or events at its facilities.
Lawyer Randy Mastro had been insisting that MSG’s blanket rule blocking attorneys from firms with litigation against the company wasn’t a violation of state civil-rights law — when Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank lost it.
“Your lecture at this point is at an end,” Frank chided.
“Thank you very much, please sit down,” he told Mastro. “That concludes this argument.”
The charged exchange came right after a court officer yelled at Mastro to sit down when the attorney and a lawyer for the plaintiff had been speaking over each other.
Law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron filed suit in October after its nearly 60 attorneys were banned from attending Rangers and Knicks games at the famous sports stadium — simply because the firm represents a hockey fan who was sucker punched at the arena and who sued over the incident.
The firm won a partial victory in December when Frank ruled that lawyers with litigation against the venue could attend events that are not sports-related.
The judge issued two written decisions later Monday — one of which was a win for MSG and the other which favored Davidoff Hutcher & Citron.
Frank granted MSG’s motion to toss out eight of the firm’s claims, leaving only two which allege the ban violates the lawyers’ civil rights under New York’s statute 40-b. The law states that anyone over the age of 21 with a ticket can’t be turned away unless they are engaged in offensive conduct.
The judge tossed a claim that accused MSG of violating privacy laws by using facial recognition technology to identify lawyers for the ban.
Frank said that the firm didn’t show that MSG was using the photos for any economic benefit.
But the judge also granted the firm’s motion seeking fines against MSG when it violates the ruling allowing lawyers to attend non-sports related events.
In particular, Frank issued a judgment awarding Davidoff lawyer Myron Rabij $662 — which includes a $500 fine against MSG and reimbursement for tickets after he was turned away from the Hulu Theater at MSG to see a performance by Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy on April 29.
Frank said that in Rabij’s case, MSG “knowingly violated” the law when it turned the attorney away from the concert he was attending with his wife and friends.
Davidoff lawyer Joseph Polito declined the comment on some of the claims getting tossed, instead focusing on the firm’s win.
Polito said Frank’s decision to grant the firm’s motion “cements” an appellate court’s ruling “that unequivocally held that MSG is required to admit plaintiffs to venues controlled by MSG for non-sporting events.”
“Based on this decision, MSG would be in contempt of court if it continues to enforce its ill-conceived and malicious policy,” Polito added.
An MSG spokesperson said: “The Court again dismissed all of the Hutcher firm’s claims with the exception of their attempted manipulation of the Civil Rights Law, and we are confident we will prevail on that issue before the Appellate Division.”
Mastro declined to comment on Frank’s rebuke toward him.