NEW YORK — All she wants for Christmas is a chance to see Mariah Carey in concert.
But the venue is run by a Scrooge-like owner, James Dolan, who is banning lawyers who sue his companies from the properties he owns, according to a new lawsuit.
One of those laywers, Nicolette Landi, was on her way to Carey’s “Merry Christmas To All Show” at Madison Square Garden last week, when she was denied entry and asked to leave the premises, according to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Landi later learned she had made Dolan’s naughty list because she was representing a client who was suing the venue because of an injury she claimed she suffered while walking on a Garden staircase.
Three weeks after MSG was served with a lawsuit over the injury claim, Landi — and all the members of her firm — received a letter banning them from events at all of Dolan’s properties, including Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theater and the Hulu Theater at MSG.
MSG has issued similar bans to attorneys at other firms, including lawyer Larry Hutcher, a New York Knicks season ticket holder for nearly 50 years.
But last month, a Manhattan judge struck down Dolan’s ban on musical and theatrical performances at the Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater if lawyers from litigating firms showed up with valid tickets. The ban on Knicks and Rangers games remains in place.
“By continuing to impose bans against adverse attorneys, despite this court’s recent order in the Hutcher matter, MSG makes clear that it intends to intimidate adverse litigants by any means necessary,” Landi’s lawsuit says.
Company executives at MSG Entertainment said in a statement that the ban was within their legal rights.
“The MSG instituted