In a corner of Larry Hutcher’s Midtown office is a framed memento with his last name written above the #40 in the Knicks’ orange and blue, similar to the back of a jersey. It was a gift he received from the Knicks six seasons ago for his 40th anniversary as a season ticket holder. Next to the frame is an autographed picture of former Knicks forward Bernard King. And Hutcher appreciates a video honoring him as a season ticket member of the game last October.
Hutcher, 71, co-founder and partner in the law firm of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, got his season tickets in the 1975-76 season and has been sitting in the fifth row behind one of the baskets for a long time. But now Hutcher and the other 59 attorneys in his firm are banned from all Madison Square Garden Entertainment venues. These include the Garden and its Hulu Theater, the Beacon Theater and Radio City Music Hall in New York, and the Chicago Theater, and cover everything from Disney on Ice to Harry Styles concerts to Knicks and Rangers games.
“I’ve had people who had tickets to Eric Clapton and concerts at the Beacon; they couldn’t use them,” Hutcher said in an interview. “They are angry with me. They say, ‘What have we done?’”
Here’s why they’re mad at Hutcher: Hutcher is representing 24 ticket resellers in a lawsuit against Madison Square Garden Entertainment. Her season tickets for the Knicks and Rangers were not renewed because of her position as a salesman, which the lawsuit violates the New York City Arts and Culture Act.
Nine days after filing this lawsuit, Hutcher received a letter from Hal Weidenfeld, senior vice president of legal and business affairs for Madison Square Garden Entertainment. The letter barred Hutcher and all of the firm’s attorneys from entering any of the company’s venues until the litigation was resolved.
In the letter, Weidenfeld cited a rule by the New York State Bar Association that would prohibit Hutcher and any associates with knowledge of the lawsuit from speaking to Madison Square Garden associates about the ongoing litigation.
When the letter arrived, everything began to make sense for Hutcher. He had bought his 47th year season tickets in March and just two days before he received the notification he tried to access his Ticketmaster account but his login didn’t work, he said. He suspected that up until Weidenfeld’s letter about the ban, it could have been a technical problem.
Hutcher responded to the letter with one of his own, explaining why he felt the ban was unlawful — and misplaced given his enduring Knicks fandom despite 50 years of failings and “many terrible” seasons: “In one brief moment, I wasn’t the season anymore Ticket Member of the Game on October 24, 2021 to an outcast,” Hutcher wrote.
But Hutcher received another letter from Randy Mastro, a lawyer for Madison Square Garden Entertainment, telling Hutcher that his tickets had expired and that “MSG has decided not to renew them and has refunded your deposit, as MSG’s law requires.” is under New York law.”
“To be clear, this is a consistent policy being implemented across the board without exception,” Mastro wrote, adding that MSG has appreciated his patronage of the Knicks over the years. “In other words, you will not be singled out or treated differently than other attorneys or law firms that are currently suing MSG.”
Now Hutcher and the 59 other attorneys at the law firm are suing Madison Square Garden Entertainment, accusing them of a “misguided” and “erroneous” interpretation of the bar’s rules and a violation of New York’s civil rights statute, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday.
Hutcher wants the court to intervene in time so he can buy his season tickets before the Knicks’ regular season opener on October 21 against the Detroit Pistons and allow his firm’s attorneys to attend other events at the company’s venues.
“The odds of a single plaintiff discussing the issue of litigation with that MSG employee are astronomical,” the lawsuit states. “There are better odds of being struck by lightning or the Knicks winning the NBA championship this year.”
The Garden has used this type of ban at other law firms and issued a firm policy on it in June, said Natalie Ravitz, senior vice president of communications and marketing. Weidenfeld sent a similar letter to firms involved in litigation related to the 2021 merger of Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp and Madison Square Garden Networks.
“While we understand this may be disappointing for some individuals, MSG has both the right and the duty to protect itself during litigation,” Ravitz said in an email. “We cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently controversial environment, and a byproduct of that is our need to protect ourselves from improper disclosure and discovery.”
She added: “When the law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron filed a lawsuit against us in September, their attorneys fell under this policy. In accordance with this policy, Mr. Hutcher was granted a refund.”
Eric L. Zagar, a partner at one of the companies in the merger lawsuit who received the letter, said the move was “unprecedented.” Still, his firm did not consider a lawsuit because the ban did not seriously handicap their attorneys, who were primarily based in the Philadelphia or San Francisco suburbs.
“This has never happened to me or anyone I know,” said Zagar, who has practiced law for 25 years. “It was shocking and kind of hilarious and ridiculous.”
James L. Dolan, the owner of Madison Square Garden Sports and Madison Square Garden Entertainment, has publicly feuded with fans and former Knicks players at the Garden and has threatened multiple lifetime bans. A beloved former star, Charles Oakley, was handcuffed and thrown out of the Garden in 2017, and Dolan said he would ban a fan for life after yelling at Dolan for selling the Knicks at a game in 2019.
Part of Hutcher’s lawsuit is aimed directly at Dolan, with Hutcher writing that only through this lawsuit is “James Dolan, the self-proclaimed king of Madison Square Garden, understood that there are rules even he must follow.”