Sterling Vs. Sterling case in a LA courtroom on July 7 will decide the fate of a the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer, ex-Microsoft CEO, for $2 Billion. A primary consideration will be Donald Sterling's state of mind.
Despite allowing Shelly Sterling to find bidders for the Clippers via the Sterling Trust, of which Mrs. Sterling is the sole trustee, he changed his mind five days later to say the sale is not legal. He also believes he is of sound mind and has the ability to make decisions.
Three separate psychiatrists who were consulted said that it will be tough to get a ruling that Mr. Sterling is 'mentally incapacitated.' A more likely case would be that Sterling might have trouble making the right decisions and remembering facts. Hence, the court will decide if Shelly Sterling properly ousted Donald from the Sterling family trust before selling the Clippers to Mr. Ballmer.
There will be a pretrial hearing on June 23. Mrs. Sterling's lawyers argued that if the sale did not go through by September 15, the NBA would have the power to spin off the Clippers through an auction.
Meril S. Platzer, a psychiatrist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center examined Donald Sterling on May 19, on his own volition:
Platzer concluded that Sterling "is suffering from cognitive impairment secondary to primary dementia Alzheimer's disease. The duration of the memory issues is at least three years. ... It is my opinion that Mr. Donald T. Sterling is unable to reasonably carry out the duties as Trustee The Sterling Family Trust as a result of, among other factors, an impairment of his level of attention, information processing, short-term memory impairment and ability to modulate mood ... and is at risk of making potentially serious errors of judgment," USA Today reported.
Meanwhile, Donald Sterling's lawyer, Bobby Samini says, "Donald never wanted to sell his team. He woke up one morning and was told he had to sell."
RadarOnline.com reported that the Sterling's former mistress who recorded the controversial racial rants V. Stiviano thinks the NBA owners are not in favor of dispelling Donald Sterling as the owner of the Clippers. She says, that the octogenarian's removal is brought up due to fear of player boycotts from the league.
In the interim, Donald Sterling has hired four private detectives to dig up some dirt on the NBA, about the allocation of money, and gender-based discrimination. And NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is ready to step back until the Sterlings figure things out. Analysts say that the NBA is not interested of getting in the middle of the Sterling vs. Sterling litigation.
On the side, a video from 2011 reality TV show pilot sheds light on Stiviano's own episode of racist rants and tirade in which she allegedly said, 'I don't understand black people..."They just act crazy...We don't like black people,' she said to her Elmo muppet, reports the Daily News . Staviano herself is black and Mexican.
