Courtney Prince wins settlement from Madison Square Gardens

Madison Square Garden on Wednesday settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed three years ago by Courtney Prince, who was captain of a cheerleading squad for the National Hockey League’s Rangers.
The action came 16 days after the Garden agreed to pay a former Knicks executive $11.5 million in damages. In that case, a jury found that coach Isiah Thomas had verbally abused and sexually harassed her.

No details of the hockey settlement were provided, but the Garden and Prince issued nearly identical statements.

“We resolved this matter with no admission of wrongdoing on any part,” each said.

Mike Paul, a public relations executive with a specialty in crisis management, said that the Garden’s decision to settle with Prince might have had to do with the urging of David Stern, the NBA commissioner, to settle with Browne Sanders.

“I think Stern has gotten to them,” Paul said. “He’s one of the few people they listen to.”

The resolution will prevent a repeat of the kind of lurid testimony in the Thomas case and kept the Garden in a high-profile negative light.