Anucha Brown Sanders Case Study

The issue: Plaintiff Anucha Brown Sanders is suing defendants MSG, Isiah Lord Thomas, and James Dolan, alleging that she was discriminated on the basis of her sex and terminated in retaliation for her sexual harassment complaint against MSG and Thomas. MSG counterclaimed against plaintiff for breach of fiduciary duty.

The rule: The rule is that, the faithless servant doctrine provides that an agent is obligated “to be loyal to his employer and is ‘prohibited from acting in any manner inconsistent with his agency or trust and is at all times bound to exercise the utmost good faith and loyalty in the performance of his duties.’’’’ The employer must show that the employee’s disloyal activity was related to the performance of his duties, in order
During her hiring process she signed papers that states, that during employment she can’t engage in activities that may impair her indipendnse or judgment or conflict with her responsibilities to MSG. She also signed a form stated that “public trust and confidence are the greatest assets held by MSG.” When Sanders became vice president her responsibilities included oversighting of the marketing and business operation budget. She got fired in 2006 and her total compensations for the five years of employement exceeded $1,100,000. After Brown Sanders filed the law suit, MSG obtained copies of her tax returns for 2000-2005. In her tax returnrn she had approximately $72,000 worth of Schedule C deducations for expenses of a “direct marketing.” This could indicate that she had her own business on the side while working for the Knicks or that she had illegally deducted personal expenses as business expense. She denied this cenerio stating that, this coul’ve been the accountants error and not a deliberate attempt to commit tax fraud. MSC counterclaimed against her for breach of fidutiary duty, stating that she had breached her duty by opening an outside business or by commiting tax fraud while working for