Source: Sterling has dementia

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

The NBA has called off a hearing to oust embattled Los Angeles Clippers co-owner Donald Sterling in advance of a vote on a potentially record-breaking deal negotiated by his wife Shelly Sterling to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

The announcement by the NBA came as Donald Sterling’s attorneys filed suit in a Los Angeles federal court against the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver asking for damages in excess of $1 billion.

The suit alleges that the league violated Sterling’s constitutional rights by relying on information from an “illegal” recording that publicized racist remarks he made to a girlfriend. It also says the league committed a breach of contract by fining Sterling $2.5 million for those remarks and that it violated antitrust laws by forcing a sale.

Shelly Sterling, who is a co-owner, negotiated the deal to sell to Ballmer late despite objections expressed through her estranged husband Donald Sterling’s attorneys.

She was able to do so, however, because Donald Sterling was stripped of his ability to act as a co-trustee of the family’s fortunes, including the Clippers, after two neurologists determined he was suffering from dementia earlier this month, according to a person close to the Sterling family.

The individual, who is familiar with the trust and the medical evaluations but wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said Sterling was deemed “mentally incapacitated” according to the trust’s conditions because he showed “an inability to conduct business affairs in a reasonable and normal manner.”

“There is specific language and there are protocols about what to do, and steps in order to get a sole trustee position and that’s what took place in the last couple of days,” the individual said.

Even so, the lawsuit filed Friday still identifies Donald Sterling as a co-trustee. His attorney, Bobby Samini, would only say that “the assertion that Donald Sterling lacks mental capacity is absurd”; he declined to otherwise discuss the issue.

Sterling can try to reinstate his trusteeship by appealing to the California Probate Court.

Shelly Sterling said in a statement late Thursday that she had agreed to sell the team to Ballmer “under her authority as the sole trustee of The Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers.”

The NBA said in a statement Friday that the league, Shelly Sterling and The Sterling Family Trust had “resolved their dispute over the ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers.”