LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles
Clippers owner Donald Sterling's bid to block the $2 billion sale of the
NBA team in a probate trial entered its final stretch on Wednesday when
his attorneys sought to prove his estranged wife improperly seized
control of the franchise.
Sterling's attorneys called only two witnesses during the
emotionally charged trial that will determine whether the
80-year-old real estate billionaire' s wife had the authority to
sell the Clippers to former Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve
Ballmer.
A neurologist called by Sterling's attorneys testified that
Sterling, who has been banned by the NBA for racist remarks, was
under undue stress from his wife Shelly Sterling, 79, while taking
the mental exams that declared him incapable of managing his
business affairs.
"There is a stress in the relationship between Mr. and Mrs.
Sterling, and you wouldn't want that stress to impact a mental
status investigation," neurologist Jeffrey Cummings told Los Angeles
Superior Court.
Sterling was removed as the trustee of the family trust that owns
the Clippers after physicians in May deemed him to be suffering from
early Alzheimer's disease.
His legal team was dealt a blow last week when Judge Michael Levanas
refused to let them call Shelly Sterling's attorneys as witnesses.
They contend Shelly Sterling, her attorneys and the NBA hatched a
secret "Plan B" to gain control of the team when Sterling refused to
sell the Clippers amid public and financial fallout from his racist
remarks.
"This is a ploy," Sterling's attorney Bobby Samini said outside
court, adding he believes Shelly Sterling intends to divorce. "She
wants control of the entirety of the estate."
Sterling's attorneys chose not to call either Sterling to testify.
Both testified earlier in the trial, with a combative Donald
Sterling often shouting and at one point calling his wife a pig.
Cummings, a physician who specializes in dementia at Cleveland
Clinic in Las Vegas, said he would have told Sterling why he was
being examined, supporting Sterling's argument that he was misled
into the medical examinations.
But under cross-examination, Cummings testified it would be
adversarial if a physician told a patient the legal implications of
an examination.
Cummings is central to Sterling's case that the process used to
remove him as trustee was inappropriate, but Levanas said he was
unsure whether Cummings's testimony - much of which was successfully
objected to by Shelly Sterling's attorney - would factor in his
decision.
Closing arguments begin on July 28 and Levanas will rule on whether
Sterling was properly removed as a trustee and if Sterling's
revocation of the family trust after the sale to Ballmer could void
the NBA-record deal.
Levanas will also decide whether the sale can continue pending a
possible appeal.
Sterling has launched other lawsuits against the NBA, league
commissioner Adam Silver and Shelly Sterling in a bid to scrap the
sale, which he testified undervalued the team.
Sterling is likely to ask a civil court for an injunction on the
sale if he loses the probate trial.
