Los Angeles Clippers (still technically current owner) Donald Sterling filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver, alleging breach of contract and a violation of his constitutional rights after the league banned him last month for making racially charged comments in a privately recorded conversation with his female companion.
The suit seeks more than $1 billion in damages, the elimination of his ban, and the elimination of his $2.5 million fine. It also seeks the reinstatement of former team president Andy Roeser, the removal of interim CEO Richard Parsons, and the termination of the NBA’s plan to terminate his family’s ownership of the team.
But the NBA already might have rendered the latter request moot and boxed Sterling out legally.
The league announced Friday that it has a binding agreement with Sterling’s wife Shelly in which the team will be sold to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, pending approval by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
“The NBA will withdraw its pending charge to terminate the Sterlings’ ownership of the team,” the NBA said in a statement. “Because of the binding agreement to sell the team, the NBA termination hearing that had been scheduled for June 3 in New York City has now been cancelled. Mrs. Sterling and the (Sterling Family) Trust also agreed not to sue the NBA and to indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling.”
That means Shelly Sterling and the Sterling Family Trust might have to cover the NBA’s expenses if Donald Sterling sues the league, as he did Friday. The Sterlings jointly own the trust, which owns the Clippers.
The determination was made according to the provisions of the trust related to the trustees’ mental capacity, leading Shelly Sterling to become sole trustee and giving her the power to make the sale herself, said the person, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Sterling is seeking damages “to punish their wrongful conduct and deter it from occurring again,” according to the suit.
– Scott Randell (@DefinedByMvsic)
