Lawyers Barred by Madison Square Garden Found a Way Back In - The New York Times

The occupation with going to conflict against thousands of lawyers is that it is apt to pb to lawsuits. And past the conflict volition inevitably caput to their location turf.

Since past summer, MSG Entertainment, which operates Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, on with different venues and restaurants, has sent letters to adversarial lawyers astatine astir 90 firms: “Neither you, nor immoderate different lawyer employed astatine your firm, whitethorn participate the Company’s venues until last solution of the litigation.” The purpose, according to MSG Entertainment officials, is to forestall the postulation of grounds “outside due litigation find channels.”

Benjamin Noren, an employment lawyer, called that “ludicrous.” His steadfast is representing summons resellers successful a suit against the company, and helium is connected the banned database though helium is not progressive successful the case. He called the ban “a transparent effort” by MSG Entertainment and its main executive, James Dolan, “to halt attorneys from suing them.”

A prohibition based connected employment presumption unsocial would mostly beryllium hard to enforce, due to the fact that idiosyncratic other could ever bargain the ticket. But MSG has efficaciously deployed facial recognition, a exertion it has been utilizing for information reasons since 2018; implicit Thanksgiving weekend, MSG’s exertion spotted and turned distant a lawyer accompanying her daughter’s Girl Scout unit to spot the Rockettes astatine Radio City Music Hall.

Businesses mostly person the close to determine whom they privation to bash concern with, arsenic agelong arsenic they are not discriminating by ethnicity, sex, religion, disablement oregon different protected class. But affected firms person wielded their astir almighty limb against the ban: complaints.

They accidental they person filed complaints with the authorities lawyer general’s office; the commissioners of the N.H.L. and N.B.A.; and the State Liquor Authority, which is present investigating whether the prohibition violates liquor laws, according to a spokesman. An N.B.A. spokesman, Mike Bass, said of the incidents of banned patrons: “There is nary leaguewide prohibition connected facial designation information exertion unless its usage conflicts with section laws.” N.H.L. did not respond to a petition for comment.

Three firms, including Mr. Noren’s — Davidoff Hutcher & Citron — person sued successful State Supreme Court successful Manhattan. So far, these suits person been the astir effectual ineligible strategy for getting immoderate lawyers backmost into immoderate venues: They person led to preliminary injunctions that partially lifted the prohibition nether a authorities anti-discrimination law that prohibits “wrongful refusal of admission” to “places of nationalist amusement oregon amusement.”

MSG Entertainment appealed the injunction to a higher court, and Mr. Noren’s steadfast counter-appealed, successful hopes of getting it expanded to see sporting events, a lawsuit that is acceptable to beryllium reviewed successful March. “To date, the Courts person lone afforded constrictive and impermanent alleviation to 3 firms,” Mikyl Cordova, a spokeswoman for MSG Entertainment, said successful a statement. “We proceed to vigorously support and enforce our policy, and stay assured the Appellate Division volition regularisation successful our favour connected our afloat appeal.”

In tribunal successful October, a lawyer for the company, Randy Mastro, told the State Supreme Court judge, Lyle Frank, that “lawyers sometimes alienate people.” Mr. Mastro said helium had experienced being connected a banned database himself erstwhile helium cracked down connected the mafia arsenic a national prosecutor. “There are immoderate Italian restaurants I couldn’t get a preservation at,” helium said. “I didn’t writer them.”

After Mr. Noren was turned away, Judge Frank reiterated that the injunction meant tickets presented astatine the clip of the lawsuit indispensable beryllium honored. Mr. Noren has since been to 5 shows astatine MSG venues, including 2 Phish concerts past period astatine Madison Square Garden.

On its face, the civilian rights instrumentality that has allowed him to bash truthful wouldn’t look to beryllium to support radical with instrumentality degrees, who are mostly not a protected class. But erstwhile Mr. Noren’s colleague, Joseph Polito, pulled the law’s legislative history, helium discovered it was created specifically to support critics of amusement barons.

In the precocious 1930s, Leonard Lyons, a columnist for the New York Post, was barred from “30-odd theaters,” helium said successful a column, due to the fact that helium had written nasty things astir the Shubert family, including a communicative astir the theatre owners charging a playwright $7 to bent curtains successful his dressing room, which the playwright spitefully paid successful pennies.

Mr. Lyons, who had a instrumentality grade himself according to his lad Jeffrey, consulted an A.C.L.U. lawyer, Morris Ernst, who informed him that “the Woollcott determination was binding,” arsenic helium aboriginal wrote successful his column, The Lyons Den. “The law’s against you,” Mr. Ernst said, “unless you alteration the law.”

And truthful Mr. Ernst drafted a instrumentality guaranteeing anyone implicit the property of 21 admittance to “legitimate theaters, burlesque theaters, euphony halls, opera houses, performance halls and circuses,” with exceptions for abusive oregon violative behavior, and helium and Mr. Lyons persuaded a authorities typical from Manhattan to propulsion it forward. It was signed into instrumentality successful April 1941 contempt Lee Shubert sending a missive to the politician objecting that it was a “one man” bill, intended to support Mr. Lyons’s quality “to find immoderate further worldly which tin signifier the ground of further attacks connected Messrs. Shubert.”

One superior sporting venue of that era, racetracks, was excepted from the law, which is wherefore Mr. Noren and his colleagues person been incapable to reason their mode backmost into Knicks and Rangers games.

Mr. Noren is concerned, helium said, that erstwhile helium present goes to events astatine MSG’s venues, his look is inactive tracked and his behaviour intimately monitored.

Woodrow Hartzog, a instrumentality prof astatine Boston University, predicts that arsenic much cases popular up involving businesses face-scanning their customers, radical volition play “Whac-a-Mole,” searching among aged laws for protection. Professor Hartzog said facial designation exertion should beryllium banned, due to the fact that though it could beryllium utilized successful beneficial ways, to spot information threats, for example, it would also, inevitably, beryllium utilized successful objectionable ways.

“A habitual atrocious instrumentality tin beryllium spotted astir instantaneously,” helium said. “But successful each satellite wherever that’s true, it is besides existent that those successful powerfulness tin utilize facial designation to spot anyone that criticizes them oregon anyone that they don’t like, and truthful that powerfulness tin beryllium utilized indiscriminately against each of us.”

Alan Greenberg is simply a instrumentality of Jerry Seinfeld. He is also, done his steadfast Greenberg Law P.C., representing a instrumentality who sued Madison Square Garden aft being assaulted astatine a Rangers game. That meant it could beryllium tricky for him to be a Seinfeld amusement astatine the Beacon Theater, which is owned by MSG Entertainment. He sued, truthful had a preliminary injunction successful manus erstwhile helium attended the amusement — but helium besides grew a beard to effort to evade facial recognition.

Lawyers whitethorn not beryllium the astir sympathetic victims and their request to beryllium entertained whitethorn not beryllium the astir compelling of causes. But their plight, Mr. Greenberg said, should rise alarms astir however the usage of this exertion could spread. Businesses, for instance, mightiness crook radical distant based connected their governmental ideology, comments they’d made online oregon whom they enactment for.

“Lawyers whitethorn not beryllium the astir favored class,” helium said, “but it could beryllium expanded to immoderate different people of individuals.”