Charles Oakley’s lawyer edited a draft of the New York Knicks legend’s autobiography to spice up a “false narrative” about his notorious ejection from Madison Sq. Backyard that sparked a long-running civil swimsuit, new courtroom paperwork allege.
A manuscript of Oakley’s 2022 guide, “The Final Enforcer,” was tweaked by his lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, in a bid to “basically” change ex-NBA ahead’s account of the evening in 2017 he bought right into a heated confrontation with Backyard safety and was tossed, MSG legal professionals contended within the new submitting Monday evening — an argument Wigdor denied.
MSG’s authorized group outlined a minimum of three examples the place Wigdor reshaped the account that has led to a years-long authorized combat between Oakley and Knicks and MSG proprietor James Dolan.
Oakley, in a single passage, admitted to beginning the bodily confrontation with safety and that he “by no means ought to have touched” them, however Wigdor rewrote the model to say safety started grabbing his shopper and he wanted to defend himself, MSG legal professionals wrote.
In one other draft account, Oakley stated he slipped when he first bought up from his seat, however Wigdor modified it to assert the previous NBA star was “pushed down by Dolan’s guys,” in response to the courtroom docs.
And Oakley additionally wrote he “was requested to go away,” however was uncertain who demanded that, whereas the brand new model from Wigdor acknowledged the retired athlete was “ordered to go away” by Dolan, in response to the courtroom submitting.
“These weren’t minor edits on the margins,” MSG legal professionals insisted.
“Wigdor edited the ultimate model to inform a basically totally different story from the reality mirrored in each one of many earlier drafts of Oakley’s autobiography – a reality that might have been deadly to Oakley’s litigation place.”
Oakley sued Dolan months after he was ejected, claiming safety used extreme power to take away him.
The lawsuit has been tossed twice earlier than it was revived in an appeals courtroom final Might.
Wigdor dismissed the newest authorized missile directed at him and his shopper in a press release to The Publish.
“The ultimate model of the guide is according to Oakley’s testimony in addition to the proof and we’re assured {that a} jury will agree,” he stated in an e mail.
“We’re additionally assured {that a} jury will finally conclude that it was Dolan who has repeatedly tried to justify MSG’s illegal exercise by inventing a false narrative to defend using unreasonable power to take away Oakley from the Backyard.”
MSG declined remark Monday evening.
“The reality is that Wigdor and his agency concocted this false narrative to savage their case,” the authorized submitting argues.
The submitting, which additionally goes after Oakley for failing to protect textual content messages that could possibly be related to the case, calls on a decide to sanction Oakley, his authorized counsel and to toss the case.
The 6-foot-8 Oakley was a well-respected participant for the Knicks within the Nineteen Nineties and was often called one of many NBA’s greatest rebounders.