NEW YORK -- The former Knicks vice president at the center of an explosive sexual harassment trial testified Monday that coach Isiah Thomas repeatedly called her a vulgar name during business meetings.
"He started some sentences with the word bitch, and some sentences he ended with [expletive] bitch, and other times he was spewing curses," said Anucha Browne Sanders, who is seeking $10 million in damages on her claim that she was fired for accusing Thomas of harassment.
Browne Sanders, testifying in a soft tone of voice, made her remarks during an aggressive cross examination by Thomas defense attorney, Kathleen Bogas.
Asked for an example of profane sentences used by Thomas, Browne Sanders stated: "Bitch, I don't want these players out in the community" for public appearances, and "Bitch, I don't want anything to do with these [expletive] sponsors."
Bogas also asked Browne Sanders if she herself used the expletive Thomas allegedly used.
"No, it is a not a word I use in my vocabulary," replied the former Northwestern basketball star. But she later qualified her remark, saying she might have used the word during while playing ball or "maybe with my brothers and sisters."
It was unclear how Thomas reacted to the testimony; his back was to the courtroom audience.
The testimony came during the second week of a trial that has exposed the Knicks -- one of the NBA's most-storied franchises -- to a series of damaging allegations. The lawsuit has portrayed Madison Square Garden as more dysfunctional frat house than hallowed basketball arena.
The lawsuit claims Browne Sanders was fired "for telling the truth" about vulgarity and unwanted advances by Thomas, also a team president; Thomas has adamantly denied the allegations.
Earlier Monday, Browne Sanders calmly fended off assertions that her job performance was lacking.
Madison Square Garden attorney Ronald Green introduced a series of 2004-2005 e-mail exchanges by Browne Sanders and various managers at the Garden, including President Steve Mills.
"I want to stress that you are focused on more ridiculous issues than I can handle," Mills replied to Browne Sanders' e-mail asking about the order of the names in a media guide.
"Were you concerned that the relationship with Mr. Mills was not as good as it had been?" Browne Sanders was asked. She replied that she was not.
Greene noted that, in an e-mail to a friend, Browne Sanders indicated that she would soon begin revising her resume. Opposing lawyers apparently are trying to show that Browne Sanders was in a power struggle, fearing her high-salaried position was slipping away from her.
Browne Sanders responded that she had received a "glowing evaluation."
Another e-mail showed Browne Sanders had been criticized for suggesting that Thomas personally hand-sign 4,500 letters to season subscribers.
Green, using a testy tone, asked Browne Sanders whether that was a sensible suggestion.
"Looking at it now, I don't think it was a good idea," she replied.
Thomas, his shoulders square, leaned forward while listening to that testimony.
In a June 2005 e-mail to Mills, enlarged on a screen for jurors, Browne Sanders criticized Thomas.
"Why is it such an uncomfortable struggle to get him [Thomas] to engage in the business of the team?" she wrote. "This is part of Isiah's job, isn't it?"
After the jury of five women and three men left the courtroom, U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch expressed exasperation that the case it taking longer than non-celebrity trials and asked the lawyers to speed things up.
"I saw one juror nodding off this morning," said the judge.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Source: ESPN.com
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