Courts

Lawyer Mom On Girl Scout Trip Gets Kicked Out Of Rockettes Christmas Show Due To Law Firm Affiliation

She described the situation as being 'mortifying.'

By  
on
Christmas in Rockefeller Center – Season 25

(Photo by Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and parents are eager to celebrate the holidays with their children. For some, that involves going into New York City to see the Rockettes perform in their “Christmas Spectacular” show. Laura Conlon, an attorney with New Jersey-based firm Davis, Saperstein and Solomon, was on a trip with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop to see the show, but things didn’t exactly go as planned after she was kicked out of the venue thanks to some pure litigation pettiness.

You see, James L. Dolan, the CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment, has a known policy banning lawyers in adverse cases from all MSG Entertainment venues — including Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and the Chicago Theater — until the legal matter is resolved. Conlon’s firm brought a personal injury claim against a restaurant owned by MSG Entertainment, and the Rockettes perform at Radio City. Though Dolan’s measure seems spiteful, some courts have already signed off on the tactic.

Within minutes of entering the venue, Conlon was flagged by security. The Today Show has additional details:

“It was pretty simultaneous, I think, to me, going through the metal detector, that I heard over an intercom or loudspeaker,” she told the affiliate. “I heard them say ‘woman with long dark hair and a gray scarf.’”

Security guards then asked her to confirm her name and identification.

Conlon added, “I believe they said that our recognition picked you up.”

According to Conlon, the guards already knew her information.

She said, “They knew my name before I told them. They knew the firm I was associated with before I told them. And they told me I was not allowed to be there.”

There’s just one problem: Conlon doesn’t practice law in New York, and she’s not even involved in any of the firm’s cases involving MSG. She had to wait outside for her daughter and the Girl Scouts she was supposed to be looking after while they watched the performance. Conlon shared her thoughts on the experience with the Today Show: “I was just a mom taking my daughter to see a Christmas show. I did wait outside … It was embarrassing, it was mortifying.”

Sam Davis, a partner at Conlon’s firm, is not willing to take this affront to one of his lawyers sitting down. Here’s what he had to say:

Sponsored

“This whole scheme is a pretext for doing collective punishment on adversaries who would dare sue MSG in their multi-billion dollar network,” he said.

He revealed his plan to challenge the entertainment company’s license with the State Liquor Authority.

Davis explained, “The liquor license that MSG got requires them to admit members of the public, unless there are people who would be disruptive who constitute a security threat.”

“Taking a mother, separating a mother from her daughter and Girl Scouts she was watching over — and to do it under the pretext of protecting any disclosure of litigation information — is absolutely absurd,” Davis continued. “The fact they’re using facial recognition to do this is frightening. It’s un-American to do this.”

Best of luck to Davis, Saperstein and Solomon as they pursue this cause. In the meantime, if your firm is involved in any litigation having to do with MSG Entertainment, you can look forward to being similarly embarrassed if you attempt to see a show on MSG property.

Girl Scout mom kicked out of Rockettes show after being detected using facial recognition technology [Today]

Earlier: The Latest In Litigation Hotness? Pure Pettiness.

Sponsored

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Topics

, , ,