Clippers sale hangs in balance as trial begins
(AP) – Attorneys for Donald Sterling and his estranged wife will face off in court as the $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers hangs in the balance.
A trial starting Monday will focus on whether Shelly Sterling had the right to negotiate the deal to sell the team herself under terms of a family trust.
She struck the deal with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer after Donald Sterling’s racist remarks to a girlfriend were publicized and the NBA moved to oust him as an owner.
To make the deal without his agreement, two doctors examined Donald Sterling and declared the 80-year-old mentally incapacitated under the trust’s terms.
Donald Sterling’s attorneys say there was undue influence in the doctors’ findings and that the exams and letters on his mental capacity were defective and incomplete.
