US Judge dismisses lawsuit against NY Yankees owner

NEW YORK Jan 27 (Reuters) - A lawsuit brought against New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner by the former president of Madison Square Garden Corp and the MSG Network has been dismissed by a U.S. judge on grounds the claims were too late or unenforceable.

Robert Gutkowski had sued Steinbrenner in Manhattan federal court last August, accusing him of fraud and breach of contract over Steinbrenner's $3 billion cable TV network.

Gutkowski contended that in 1996 he came up with the idea for what became the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, or YES Network.

The lawsuit claimed that Steinbrenner retained Gutkowski as an occasional outside consultant, and that discussions about making making him the network's chief executive did not lead to Gutkowski getting that position.

Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) owns MSG.

In a ruling published on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Sullivan entered a judgement in favor of Steinbrenner and closed the case.

Gutkowski's lawyer, Neal Brickman, was not available to comment on the decision.

Gutkowski had sought to recover at least $43 million, including $23 million of compensatory damages and $20 million of punitive damages.

"We said at the time the suit was filed that it was patently false and frivolous. We were proven correct," Steinbrenner's spokesman, Howard Rubinstein, said in an email.

Steinbrenner's health has declined in recent years and in 2008 he handed over control of the Yankees to his son Hal, ending his often tempestuous 35-year reign over baseball's most storied franchise.

The case is Gutkowski v. Steinbrenner, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan), No. 09-7535. (Reporting by Grant McCool and Jonathan Stempel)