Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Cablevision Systems Corp., owner of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks, and Chief Executive Officer James Dolan settled a sexual harassment suit by a female former team executive under pressure from the National Basketball Association.

A jury in the case awarded $11.6 million to Anucha Browne Sanders, once the senior vice president for marketing and business operations for the team, about two months ago. U.S. District Court Judge Gerard Lynch was scheduled to rule on compensatory damages in the case later this week, potentially adding millions more to the verdict.

Browne Sanders, 44, said that she was subjected to obscenity-laced tirades and sexual advances by Knicks coach Isiah Thomas. She was fired by Dolan in January 2006 for complaining, according to her lawsuit.

Madison Square Garden settled ``at the strong request'' of NBA Commissioner David Stern, Madison Square Garden spokesman Bill Cunningham said today in an e-mailed statement. ``We don't feel any less strongly than we did throughout the entire episode. The outcome was a travesty of justice and we vehemently disagree with the jury's decision.''

Terms of today's settlement weren't disclosed.

Kevin Mintzer, a lawyer for Browne Sanders, declined to comment on the amount of the award or the impact it has on the earlier award. The damages hearing scheduled for Dec. 13 was canceled, he said.

``The case is over,'' Mintzer said.

Jury Verdict

Jurors ruled in Browne Sanders's favor Oct. 2 after a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court that subjected the Knicks and Thomas to a steady stream of negative publicity.

New York tabloids splashed key testimony on their front pages. The Knicks' starting point guard, Stephon Marbury, who is married, admitted to having sex with a Knicks intern and to cursing at Browne Sanders.

The jury found that Thomas had sexually harassed Browne Sanders and that he and Madison Square Garden subjected her to a hostile work environment. Thomas wasn't found liable for any damages in the case or for retaliation. Lynch declared a mistrial on the question of whether the Knicks coach must pay damages for discrimination.

``I am completely innocent,'' Thomas said today in an e- mailed statement. ``This decision doesn't change that.''

Charlie Schueler, a spokesman for Cablevision, declined to comment beyond Cunningham's statement on behalf of Madison Square Garden. NBA spokesman Tim Frank declined to comment, saying Commissioner Stern was unavailable.

Fourth Loss

Dolan said yesterday that he remains ``emphatically behind'' Thomas, despite the team's fourth lopsided loss in six games, according to a report in the New York Times.

Dolan's evaluation came after he, Thomas and Madison Square Garden President Steve Mills met following the Knicks' 105-77 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night, the Times said, citing a high-ranking Garden official.

Fans at New York's arena have chanted ``Fire Isiah'' in almost every home game this season. New York lost 101-90 on Dec. 7 at Philadelphia, 115-104 to Phoenix on Dec. 2 and 104-59 at Boston on Nov. 29.

Thomas led the Knicks to a losing 33-49 record last season. New York made the playoffs once in the past six seasons, losing to the New Jersey Nets in the first round in 2004, months after Thomas was hired as the Knicks' president of basketball operations.

Madison Square Garden was to pay $6 million for discrimination and $2.6 million for retaliation. Dolan was ordered to pay $3 million for retaliation.

College Star

Browne Sanders, once a star women's basketball player at Northwestern University, is married and has three children. She was once paid as much as $260,000 a year with a $75,000 bonus in her position with the Knicks. She now works as the head of sports marketing at the University of Buffalo.

In her testimony, Browne Sanders recounted numerous instances and said she informed her boss, Knicks president Mills, after they happened.

``I told Steve that Isiah was very hostile, verbally abusive, unprofessional,'' she testified. ``He said, `Isiah's got a different way.'''

In a January 2005 meeting, she testified that Thomas asked her to come into his office to talk about staffing.

``He let me in his office and he closed the door and he gave me a big hug and said, `You know I'm in love with you,''' Browne Sanders said. Later in the meeting, he told her he wanted to take her ``off-site for some private time,'' she claimed.

Thomas's Claims

Mills said he wasn't told about the harassment until December 2005, the month before the Knicks fired her. Thomas denied most of the instances ever happened.

In his testimony, Thomas recounted one instance Browne Sanders included in her complaint, where he came up behind her and tried to hug her and give her a kiss on the cheek, a greeting he claimed was common between the two.

``She recoiled in such a way that made me uncomfortable and probably made other people around us uncomfortable and I said `What? No love today?''' Thomas told the jury. ``It was kind of an embarrassing situation.''

Lawyers for Madison Square Garden argued Browne Sanders was dismissed partly because of her job performance. She got a bonus of $76,000 and a $37,000 raise in early 2005.

Dolan claimed during the trial that he fired her because she hampered the investigation of her allegations about Thomas. The man who Dolan said gave him that information, Madison Square Garden executive Rusty McCormack, said in a deposition that he never had that conversation with the Cablevision CEO.

The case is Sanders v. Madison Square Garden LP, 06-cv-589, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in the New York federal court at pathurtado@bloomberg.net; Lindsay Fortado in Tennessee Chancery Court in Nashville at lfortado@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 10, 2007 21:41 EST