The estranged wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling is expected to turn to a probate court Wednesday in an effort to resolve an ongoing team ownership dispute and move forward with a sale of the franchise.
Rochelle Sterling's attorney will ask a judge to approve a team sale that she helped negotiate last month. Her attorney and an attorney for ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, with whom Rochelle Sterling negotiated a sale of the team, are expected to appear Tuesday before a judge.
During Wednesday's expected court appearance, an attorney for Rochelle Sterling, also known as Shelly, will ask a judge to certify that she was within her rights to sell the team. Donald Sterling's attorney, Max Blecher, told the Los Angeles Times that he had been notified by Rochelle Sterling's attorneys that they plan to seek clarity from the court.
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"The understanding we have is that she is going to go in and say that he has cognitive impairment that has prevented him from making decisions," Blecher told the Los Angeles Times. "And that is something we will oppose."
The proposed $2 billion sale to ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer appeared to mark a turning point in the Sterling saga, which began after an audio recording surfaced of Sterling making racist comments and telling a companion not to bring black people to Clippers games. Donald Sterling, 80, indicated he had agreed to the proposal, but announced earlier this week that he planned to move forward with a lawsuit against the NBA.
The lawsuit alleges the league violated his constitutional rights by relying on information from an "illegal" recording. It also claims the league committed a breach of contract by fining Sterling $2.5 million and that it violated antitrust laws by trying to force a sale, which would require approval from other team owners.
The NBA's longest-tenured owner continued to sound a defiant tone Tuesday when he released a statement in which he said he is fighting the NBA in the name of privacy rights and freedom of speech.
"I am shocked (but not surprised) that the NBA wants to take away those fundamental rights," Sterling said in the statement. "I feel that every American has to protect those rights and that the NBA should not be allowed to take away those rights. I have apologized for my mistakes. My apology is sincere. I want every American to know that I will not give up fighting for those rights."
Shelly Sterling announced late last month that she had negotiated a $2 billion sale of the franchise to Ballmer on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust. She claimed authority as head of the trust to negotiate the sale and claimed her husband's mental capacity is impaired.
As for the NBA's involvement at this point, the league's commissioner said it's a legal matter to be hammered out by the Sterlings and their attorneys. During an interview with ESPN at halftime of Game 3 of the NBA Finals Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is waiting for "this dispute between Donald and Shelly Sterling to play itself out."
The league scheduled a hearing earlier this month at which team owners were to vote on Silver's request to terminate Sterling's ownership. That hearing was canceled after Rochelle Sterling announced plans to sell the team and attorneys for Donald Sterling indicated he agreed to allow her to negotiate the sale, Silver said.
In response to the statement Sterling released Tuesday, Silver said he has "no idea what (Sterling) is talking about."
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