Archived Topic

Donald Sterling = Mentally Incapacitated?

by snoscythe · 5/30/2014

snoscythe

5/30/2014, 8:00:32 PM

The NBA is touting this "ruling" as if it's a major coup for them and they've avoided a headache. The headache has just begun.

This adds ammo to the suit Sterling is going to file against the NBA--if the NBA wants to argue he is incapacitated, Sterling's army of litigators is going to say "Great!"--so you fined a mentally incapacitated person $2MM and banned him from the league? REAL progressive there NBA." That's what we call discrimination against the mentally ill/incapacitated.

Add to that the fact that Sterling's objection to the NBA's proposed vote for Tuesday includes allegations of homophobic slurs from another owner, and it's clear that Sterling has a clear strategy for his suit--scorched earth. Each and every owner, part-owner, executive, etc. in the NBA is going to find themselves getting deposed in a Paula Deen-like deposition where they are asked "Have you ever in your life used the n-word?" and their pasts are going to get combed for any hint of a racist comment, joke, or leaning, not to mention calling people "retard" (because now discrimination against the mentally incapacitated is fair game), or any homophobic comments.

Way to go Mr. Silver.

Guest

5/30/2014, 8:28:25 PM

Greg Miller better be shaking in his boots. The number of skeletons in his closet could rank up there with owners in big markets.

snoscythe

5/30/2014, 10:46:12 PM

And BOOM---Sterling's attorney confirms they will be filing a $1 Billion lawsuit against the NBA (and given the anti-trust claim, against his fellow owners).

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11008282/attorney-says-los-angeles-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-suing-nba-1-billion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This could be about the juiciest, most expensive lawsuit ever--you have the egos of nearly 30 billionaires involved, plus the reputation of a multi-billion-dollar a year association, all of who are going to be lawyering-the-hell-up.

Edit: I just skimmed the suit, and it's actually a $3 billion lawsuit.

Ddawg

5/31/2014, 4:54:02 PM

This is high stakes drama. I luv it. Great entertainment fodder.

Guest

5/31/2014, 6:47:30 PM

I really hope Sterling burns the NBA to the ground.

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SpiffCoug

5/31/2014, 10:51:37 PM

I'm trying to figure out how he has been determined to be mentally incapacitated? Is the NBA qualified to make such a determination? Are the other NBA owners? That seems like an official mental diagnosis.

Mars

6/1/2014, 2:52:28 AM

Isn't he selling the Clippers for $2B? If so, how would he have a case?

Ddawg

6/1/2014, 7:17:06 AM

Mars wrote:

Isn't he selling the Clippers for $2B? If so, how would he have a case?

Donald Sterling's wife sold the Clipper's. He did not want to sell.

Actually, I think he has a good case. The recording made of Donald Sterling was recorded without his knowledge or consent. That is illegal in California. CA law requires all partiers being recorded to have knowledge and give their consent. The fruits of an illegal act are not admissible.

Wait till you see the collection of lawyers that Sterling will throw at the NBA. It will be an All-Star legal team. It's going to be a great show.

Mars

6/1/2014, 8:13:28 AM

Ddawg wrote:
The recording made of Donald Sterling was recorded without his knowledge or consent. That is illegal in California... The fruits of an illegal act are not admissible.

In a court of law perhaps. Probably much less so in the boardroom of a private corporation.

snoscythe

6/1/2014, 3:33:14 PM

Mars wrote:

Isn't he selling the Clippers for $2B? If so, how would he have a case?

He does claim that he had an unsolicited offer for $2.5 billion a couple years ago, and the team/market has only improved since then, so it's not that far-fetched (if he can prove he turned down $2.5B in the past) to convince someone that the $2B selling price was actually a discounted price where the buyer's knew the seller was in a position of weakness given the NBA's actions rather than a fair-market, evenly negotiated purchase. If he really can show that $2.5B offer, I don't think $1B in damages is that hard to get to.

Then if he can win on anti-trust, his damages award can get tripled to $3B.

I think Sterling has one of two goals here--either force the NBA into a painful settlement to avoid what will absolutely be embarrassing, if not debilitating depositions and testimony from executives and owners, or to wage a scorched-earth campaign to get all the dirty laundry from every owner and exec out in the open, regardless of legal outcome.

Ddawg

6/1/2014, 4:29:29 PM

Mars wrote:
The recording made of Donald Sterling was recorded without his knowledge or consent. That is illegal in California... The fruits of an illegal act are not admissible.

In a court of law perhaps. Probably much less so in the boardroom of a private corporation.

Exactly - in a court of law. The final ruling on the legality of the NBA's actions will be settled in a court of law - where I believe Donald Sterling has a good case. The NBA had a knee jerk reaction to an illegally obtained recording that they made a Draconian decision on. And, they never interviewed Donald Sterling to get his side. What ever happened to gathering all the facts surrounding a case in a fair and impartial manner?

SpiffCoug

6/1/2014, 8:40:35 PM

There's no time for that when you need to publicly hang someone for racism.

snoscythe

6/1/2014, 11:28:19 PM

SpiffCoug wrote:
There's no time for that when you need to publicly hang someone for racism.

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Mars

6/1/2014, 11:31:50 PM

Ddawg wrote:
The final ruling on the legality of the NBA's actions will be settled in a court of law - where I believe Donald Sterling has a good case. The NBA had a knee jerk reaction to an illegally obtained recording that they made a Draconian decision on... What ever happened to gathering all the facts surrounding a case in a fair and impartial manner?

It was my thought that the NBA could do basically whatever they wanted for whatever reason they wanted. Like how Boy Scouts don't HAVE to include gay scout leaders. There seems to be little legislation when it comes to interfering with private business decisions. They could have kicked him out based on his favorite color for all I know (and yes, I may be very wrong about that premise).

Ddawg

6/2/2014, 5:41:37 AM

Mars wrote:
The final ruling on the legality of the NBA's actions will be settled in a court of law - where I believe Donald Sterling has a good case. The NBA had a knee jerk reaction to an illegally obtained recording that they made a Draconian decision on... What ever happened to gathering all the facts surrounding a case in a fair and impartial manner?

It was my thought that the NBA could do basically whatever they wanted for whatever reason they wanted. Like how Boy Scouts don't HAVE to include gay scout leaders. There seems to be little legislation when it comes to interfering with private business decisions. They could have kicked him out based on his favorite color for all I know (and yes, I may be very wrong about that premise).

Yes, the NBA can vote an owner out. Just like any private business can fire any employee they want to. But, that dis-enfranchised owner, or fired employee, can challenge that action in court. After the NBA moved so swiftly to ban Donald Sterling for life, fine him, and move towards stripping him from team ownership - they opened themselves up to litigation.

The problem with trying to bully Donald Sterling is - he is an experienced and successful businessman, a lawyer himself, pretty shrewd, has massive financial resources to hire the finest legal team in the nation, and pissed off. Toss in illegal activity to trap Mr. Sterling, add some bitterness and you have a recipe for a determined legal challenge to the NBA's actions.

snoscythe

6/13/2014, 6:42:14 PM

And so the scorched-earth campaign begins in earnest as Donald Sterling hired PIs and gives them six-figure budgets to go after other owners' and NBA officials' pasts:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=30291801&nid=141&title=ap-source-donald-sterling-hires-investigators&s_cid=queue-9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The firms will be engaged in an "audition" of sorts, the individual said: "Whoever delivers the best (material) is going to stay on for the next round and it might be all four of them...29 owners is not a small undertaking."

Guest

6/13/2014, 7:17:11 PM

snoscythe wrote:
And so the scorched-earth campaign begins in earnest as Donald Sterling hired PIs and gives them six-figure budgets to go after other owners' and NBA officials' pasts:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=30291801&nid=141&title=ap-source-donald-sterling-hires-investigators&s_cid=queue-9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The firms will be engaged in an "audition" of sorts, the individual said: "Whoever delivers the best (material) is going to stay on for the next round and it might be all four of them...29 owners is not a small undertaking."

I absolutely love this.

scott715

6/14/2014, 3:11:00 AM

Maybe the owners will fire the commish.

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