LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Attorneys for
Donald Sterling told a probate court judge on Monday that the Los
Angeles Clippers co-owner had been duped into taking medical
examinations that determined he lacked the mental capacity to have a say
in the $2 billion sale of his team.
Attorney Maxwell Blecher, speaking during a pre-trial hearing in
the legal battle for control of the National Basketball Association
franchise, said Sterling had been "brought by misrepresentation" by
his estranged wife, Shelly Sterling, to submit to the examinations
last month.
Blecher and co-counsel Bobby Samini also asked Los Angeles County
Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas to allow them to present
evidence of Sterling's mental fitness in a bid to allow him to have
a say in the family trust that owns the Clippers.
Levanas said he would rule on that request next week but cautioned
that he believed the language in the trust that would install Shelly
Sterling as its sole trustee if her husband was deemed mentally
unfit was straightforward.
"I could do this trial in five minutes," he said. "I don't know why
you need a court."
Shelly Sterling has asked Levanas to confirm her as the controlling
owner of the team after Donald Sterling vowed to block its $2
billion sale to former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.
Sterling, 80, was banned for life by the NBA in April and fined $2.5
million after privately taped racist remarks were leaked to
celebrity website TMZ.com.
A four-day trial in Los Angeles Superior Court is set to begin on
July 7 and offer a resolution ahead of the NBA owners' July 15 vote
on whether to approve the sale to Ballmer.
Donald Sterling's lawyers have asked for the trial to be pushed
back to August because a possible expert witness on dementia would
be out of the country.
In May, neurologists examined Sterling and found that he suffers
from dementia consistent with early Alzheimer's disease, which would
hand full control of the Clippers to his wife under a provision of
the family's trust.
Blecher said that a provision in earlier versions of the trust that
allowed for a trustee to dispute such a move had been inadvertently
omitted in the most recent trust, which was restated in December.
Sterling, who has owned the Clippers for 33 years, has also sued the
NBA and its commissioner, Adam Silver, for $1 billion in damages.
