(Shelly) Sterling vs. (Donald) Sterling $2B Feud Over L.A. Clippers Goes to Court
Image by getty images
The $2 billion sale of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers faces a key legal hurdle on Monday as the estranged husband and wife who own the franchise battle in court over control of the team.
Shelly Sterling, 79, has asked a Los Angeles judge to confirm her as having sole authority to sell the pro basketball franchise to former Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer at an NBA-record price after husband Donald Sterling vowed to block the deal.
Attorneys for Donald Sterling plan to argue that Shelly Sterling misled him into submitting to mental fitness examinations in May which ultimately handed control to his wife when physicians deemed him incompetent to manage business affairs because of early Alzheimer’s disease.
In an unprecedented move, the league banned 80-year-old Donald Sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million in April after taped racist remarks he made privately were leaked to celebrity website TMZ.com during the Clippers’ playoff run.
The real estate billionaire’s comments imploring a girlfriend not to associate with black people sparked public outrage, caused sponsors to cut ties with the team while players considered a boycott.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas will decide whether Shelly Sterling acted in accordance with the family trust that owns the Clippers and if Donald Sterling’s move to revoke the trust after the deal with Ballmer would invalidate the sale.
Donald Sterling’s mental capacity will not feature in the four-day trial after attorneys from both sides struck an agreement.
The sale to Ballmer has been tentatively approved by the league but must be voted on by other team owners. The vote is scheduled for July 15 – the same day Ballmer can back out of the deal if it is not approved.
The NBA has said it could seize the Clippers from the Sterlings and put the franchise up for auction if the deal is not approved by Sept. 15.
Donald Sterling’s attorneys have tried to delay the trial until August and last week asked for the case to be moved to federal court, alleging his health privacy rights had been violated.
Sterling, who has owned the Clippers for 33 years, has also sued the NBA and its commissioner, Adam Silver, for $1 billion in damages.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Fast Forward Jewish Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky reportedly to retire after 26 years in office
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.