Sterling Sues NBA for $1 Billion

Los Angeles Clippers co-owner Donald Sterling sued the NBA Friday for more than $1 billion for the association’s decision to ban him for life and allegedly forcing him to sell the team’s franchise.

The suit springs from last month when TMZ posted a reported recording where Sterling uttered a racist remarks to his companion V. Stiviano that spawned outrage among NBA fans, players and executives.

Among those who were outraged by Sterling’s remarks was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who banned Sterling and fined him $2.5 million and pushed a charge to terminate all of his ownership rights in the franchise.

Report also said the suit comes amid questions about Sterling’s mental state concerning his control issues with the Clippers.

In the lawsuit, Sterling’s camp claim that the move to terminate his ownership “is unconstitutional, in breach of contract, in restraint of trade, in breach of fiduciary duties and … is malicious and oppressive.” Also, Sterling alleged in the lawsuit that he never violated the NBA’s constitution and the recording that spawned this scandal — and that recording, it says, is the sole base of the NBA charges against him — is against California law, report said.

“The forced sale of the Los Angeles Clippers threatens not only to produce a lower price than a non-forced sale, but more importantly, it injures competition and forces antitrust injury by making the … market unresponsive to … the operation of the free market.” the lawsuit stated.

It added “(Sterling believes) that the NBA’s forced sale … would create damages of at least $1 billion, which includes capital gains taxes, unnecessary and increased investment-banking fees, legal and transactional costs, and the loss of all future appreciation in the Los Angeles Clippers franchise value.”

CNN report said the filing of the suit in a federal court in California comes a day after Sterling’s estranged wife, Shelly, agreed to sell the Clippers to ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

Report said the filing also comes days before the scheduled meeting of the NBA Board of Governors that was reportedly set to include a vote that could have forced the Sterlings to give up that team.

The NBA said that the June 3 meeting has been canceled — something Sterling himself had asked for in his lawsuit — due to the Clippers’ pending sale to Ballmer, the report said.

The lawsuit filed Friday listed Donald Sterling and the Sterling family trust as plaintiffs.

Source: cnn.com