By BRIAN MELLEY
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A judge ruled against Los Angeles Clippers owner
Donald Sterling on Monday in his attempt to block the $2 billion sale of
the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
In the tentative ruling, Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas sided
with Sterling's estranged wife Shelly Sterling, who burst into tears
when the ruling was announced.
"I can't believe it's over. I feel good," she said.
Shelly Sterling negotiated the sale of the team after the 80-year-old
billionaire was banned by the NBA for making offensive remarks about
blacks.
She sought approval from a probate judge for the deal she struck
after removing her husband from the trust that owned the team when
doctors found he had signs of Alzheimer's disease and couldn't manage
his affairs.
Donald Sterling claimed his wife deceived him about the medical exams.
He later revoked the trust after she negotiated the record-setting
sales price and his lawyers argued that the move killed the deal. They
said the case didn't belong in probate court because the trust had been
dissolved.
The ruling in Los Angeles County Superior Court is unlikely to put an
end to the bizarre saga that began in April when a recording surfaced
of Sterling scolding his young girlfriend for bringing black men to
Clippers games. The NBA moved quickly to ban Sterling for life and fined
him $2.5 million.
Sterling was apologetic after the audio recording went viral, but his
mea culpa backfired when he criticized Lakers great Magic Johnson, who
had been photographed with Sterling's girlfriend, as a bad role model
for kids because he had HIV. Sterling was roundly criticized from locker
rooms to the Oval Office, where President Barack Obama called
Sterling's remarks "incredibly offensive racist statements."
With the NBA threatening to seize the team and auction it, Sterling
initially gave his wife of 58 years permission to negotiate a sale but
then refused to sign it. He said he would sue the league instead and
then revoked the trust.
The nonjury trial held over several weeks focused mainly on whether
Shelly Sterling properly removed her husband as a trustee and whether
her actions carried any weight after he revoked the trust.
Donald Sterling's lawyers contended that his wife and her lawyers
conspired to trick him and that the mental exams by two doctors were
faulty. They said Sterling didn't know his competency as a trustee was
being evaluated and that he showed no signs of incompetence on the
witness stand.
In combative testimony, Sterling said he would "never, ever sell" the
team he bought in 1981 for about $12 million. He vowed to fight the NBA
in court until the day he dies.
Before taking the stand, he kissed his wife and then testified that
he loved her. But the following day when she approached him in court he
yelled, "get away from me, you pig!"
Sterling, a lawyer who made a fortune as a landlord, has filed an
antitrust lawsuit in federal court against the NBA and he sued his wife,
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league in state court.
Lawyers for Shelly Sterling and Ballmer had urged the judge to let
the sale go through because it was in the best interest of the family
trust. They said an auction was less likely to bring such a high price
and that coach Doc Rivers, key players and sponsors were likely to walk
if Donald Sterling's ownership was prolonged.
"The trust has a golden bird in the hand," Shelly Sterling's lawyers
wrote in court papers. "A sale of the Clippers for $2 billion is
indisputably a bonanza for the Sterling family. Donald's strident
opposition is motivated by only selfish considerations."
Donald Sterling said he could get more for the team by also selling
TV rights and through his $9 billion suit against the league.
