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Tag: los angeles clippers
Appeals Court Denies Sterling Bid To Block Clippers Sale

Appeals Court Denies Sterling Bid To Block Clippers Sale

Los Angeles (AFP) — A California appeals court rejected Donald Sterling’s last-ditch bid to scupper the sale of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

Sterling had filed the petition on Tuesday, the day the National Basketball Association announced that Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the club had been finalized.

Ballmer said he was “humbled and honored” after the transaction was sealed when a California court order went into effect confirming that his wife Shelly Sterling had the authority to sell the team.

The court of appeal ruled that there was no basis for an order blocking the deal and noted that the sale had already closed.

“Thus, there is nothing for this court to stay,” the court said in the ruling on Wednesday.

“Even if the sale had not closed… petitioner has failed to show that the balancing of the relative harm favors granting a temporary stay.”

The team went on the block after the NBA slapped a life ban on Donald Sterling, who bought the club in 1981 for $12.5 million.

The action was in response to a video aired on celebrity website TMZ that showed Donald Sterling criticizing his girlfriend for having her picture taken with black people.

In the storm that followed, the 80-year-old billionaire initially agreed to the sale of the team, but then abruptly withdrew his support.

His wife, however, moved to sell the Clippers as a trustee of the family trust that owned the team after Sterling had been declared mentally incapacitated.

The NBA board of governors had previously approved the sale and Ballmer now takes on the title of Clippers governor.

Ballmer’s attorney Adam Streisand said in a statement that he has no doubt Donald Sterling will appeal to the Supreme Court, but said he was “supremely confident” that the sale is sealed and Ballmer is now the “undisputed owner” of the Clippers.

AFP Photo/Robyn Beck

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Doctor Testifies Donald Sterling Has Alzheimer’s

Doctor Testifies Donald Sterling Has Alzheimer’s

Los Angeles (AFP) – Donald Sterling, who was a no-show in court for the first day of his trial, has been suffering from Alzheimer’s for at least three years, a witness told a judge on Monday.

The proceedings are to determine if Sterling’s estranged wife Shelly has authority to sell the team, under pressure from the NBA, following racist remarks by Sterling that caused an uproar in America.

Neurologist Dr. Meril Platzer testified that she came to that conclusion after having the disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner undergo a battery of tests, including a CT (computerized tomography) scan and a PET (positron emission tomography) scan. She also said she went to his home to perform cognitive testing.

Asked how long Donald Sterling had been suffering from “dementia or Alzheimer’s”, disease Platzer said, “at least for three years, most likely for five years.”

Platzer told U.S. judge Michael Levanas that following two hours of testing, she told Donald Sterling that he had Alzheimer’s and his reaction was, “I’m hungry. I want to eat.”

But Platzer said Donald Sterling’s wife, Shelly Sterling, was shocked by the news.

“She was taken aback, shocked. She felt bad for her husband,” said Platzer, who testified she is an expert in the field of neurology, having examined over 25,000 patients over the course of her career.

The probate court trial is to decide whether Shelly Sterling has legal authority under the family trust to sell the National Basketball Association team for a record $2 billion to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

Donald Sterling is seeking to halt the sale being conducted by his estranged wife, arguing that his privacy rights were violated by the release of his medical records.

After several delays in the morning session, testimony in the non-jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court finally got under way. But before that could happen a U.S. federal court judge had to deny Donald Sterling’s bid to move his legal fight with his wife over the sale of the Clippers to a federal court. The decision paved the way for the scheduled four-day trial to proceed.

U.S. federal court judge George Wu denied the motion to move the case to federal court, saying that “to the extent that (Sterling’s) medical records are relevant to the probate hearings, the probate court is more than capable of evaluating them and rendering a decision.”

Pierce O’Donnell, lawyer for Shelly Sterling, then called Donald Sterling as the first witness. O’Donnell explained he had subpoenaed Sterling and when told he wouldn’t be available, O’Donnell suggested a bench warrant could be issued.

O’Donnell called his second witness, Platzer, one of two doctors hired by Shelly Sterling who examined Donald Sterling and found him to be mentally incapacitated.

Bobby Samini, the lawyer for Donald Sterling, said his client was not in the courtroom because they thought it would take more time to get a decision from the federal court. His legal team said Donald Sterling would be in court to testify on Tuesday.

Sterling’s other lawyer, Gary Ruttenberg, said that Shelly Sterling had duped his client and that the NBA is complicit in her actions.

“The NBA wants to get rid of my client,” Ruttenberg said. “They were colluding with Mrs. Sterling and her counsel to do this.”

Sterling’s lawyers did not cross-examine Platzer on Monday.

But O’Donnell said no fraud occurred and that Donald Sterling changed his mind after originally agreeing to the sale of the team.

“He will pull out all the stops to prevent the sale from going forward,” O’Donnell said.

Sterling was banned from the NBA for life earlier this year following the public release of recorded conversations between him and his girlfriend V. Stiviano. Sterling is heard on the tape making bigoted comments, criticizing Stiviano for having her picture taken with black people and telling her not to bring blacks to Clipper games.

The league announced plans to take action against Sterling to force him to sell the team. But Sterling has since filed a lawsuit against the NBA, alleging violations of his civil rights.

He has contended that he was recorded illegally while making emotional remarks during a disagreement with Stiviano.

AFP Photo/Robyn Beck

Sterling Backs Clippers Sale, Won’t Pursue Lawsuit

Sterling Backs Clippers Sale, Won’t Pursue Lawsuit

Los Angeles (AFP) – Banned owner Donald Sterling backs the $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, and will drop his lawsuit against the NBA, his lawyer said.

Attorney Maxwell Blecher confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that Sterling planned to drop the lawsuit seeking $1 billion in damages that he filed against the league on Friday.

That suit, which also named NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as a defendant, alleged breach of contract and anti-trust and civil rights violations.

It was filed in U.S. federal court in Los Angeles shortly before the NBA said it approved the sale of the Clippers to Ballmer and would ask the board of governors to vote on it.

Sterling’s wife Shelly, acting as head of the Sterling family trust, had negotiated the blockbuster deal with Ballmer, pushing it through before the league concluded action to strip the club from the Sterlings.

The league canceled a hearing on whether to oust Donald Sterling over racially charged remarks he made to a girlfriend that sparked outrage when they became public in April.

Silver had already banned him for life from all NBA activities, and fined the real estate billionaire $2.5 million.

Donald Sterling had told Los Angeles television station NBC4 late Tuesday that he was ready to “move on.”

Appearing at a charity event, Sterling said he was content with the deal his wife had struck.

“I feel fabulous, I feel very good,” Sterling said. “Everything is just the way it should be, really. It may have worked out differently, but it’s good. It’s all good.”

As a condition of the sale to Ballmer, the NBA said last week that Shelly Sterling had indemnified the league against further legal action in relation to the case.

Therefore, even if the notoriously litigious Donald Sterling pursued and won a case against the league, the damages would have been paid by the trust.

Three quarters of the remaining 29 owners must still approve the sale to Ballmer before it becomes official.

The price tag, for a team that has never won a championship, would set an NBA record — well above the record $550 million paid for the Milwaukee Bucks in April.

It would mark a massive financial return for the 80-year-old Sterling on a club he purchased in 1981 for just $12 million.

The 58-year-old Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft from 2000 until February this year, had tried before to buy an NBA club, hoping to relocate the Sacramento Kings to Seattle.

Last week, Ballmer was at pains to reassure Clippers fans that he didn’t intend to move the club.

Clippers supporters as well as players were thrown into turmoil when Sterling’s comments, chastising girlfriend V. Stiviano for publicizing her association with black friends, became public.

Sponsors fled, and in a country that grapples with issues of race, the controversy clouded the Clippers’ run to the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Photo: Robyn Beck via AFP

Embattled Sterling Sued By Woman For Discrimination

Embattled Sterling Sued By Woman For Discrimination

Los Angeles (AFP) – Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is facing new accusations of racism and claims of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed by a woman once employed as his personal assistant.

The complaint filed on Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that Sterling fired Maiko May King as his personal assistant and caretaker in May because she objected to the “steady stream of racially and sexually offensive comments” he made to her.

The suit, in which King is represented by attorney Gloria Allred, comes after Sterling was banned for life and fined $2.5 million by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver over racially charged remarks that sparked outrage when they became public.

The NBA was taking steps to oust Sterling as an owner when his wife, Shelly Sterling, struck a deal last week to sell the Clippers to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer for $2 million.

That deal must still be approved by the NBA board of governors.

According to the complaint, King was romantically involved with Sterling from 2005 through 2011, working for the Donald T. Sterling Corporation.

During that time King, who was married to a black man and had two children, argued with Sterling “about his racist views,” the lawsuit says, adding that Sterling once asked her “Why would you bring black people into the world?”

Sterling and King broke up in 2011, but when King’s father died in 2013 she reached out to Sterling, and began working for him again, performing such tasks as taking the 80-year-old real estate tycoon to doctor appointments and accompanying him to business meetings.

However, the suit alleges that Sterling failed to live up to his agreement to pay her $10,000 a month and “dangled money only if she would have sex with him.”

King also alleges that Sterling would humiliate her by groping her in public, creating “an intimidating, oppressive, hostile and offensive work environment based upon sex.”

Bobby Samini, a lawyer acting for Sterling, said in a statement the lawsuit was “baseless.”

“She was never employed by Donald Sterling. Her claim was obviously prompted by opportunistic motives.”

AFP Photo/Robyn Beck