We’ll see if Sterling’s lawsuit even makes its way to court.
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Last week a report said he was filing for a divorce from wife Shelly, to whom he was married for almost 60 years.
Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling has filed a lawsuit against TMZ and former girlfriend V. Stiviano over leaked recordings in which Sterling made racially charged remarks that led to him being stripped of his ownership of the Clippers.
In the recording, Sterling said he did not want Stiviano inviting African-Americans to Clippers games.
Sterling filed suit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the website and his former mistress V.
In the docs, Sterling accuses TMZ of publishing the tape in violation of his privacy rights – and says, as a result, he’s been damaged “on a scale of unparalleled and unprecedented magnitude”.
The suit is the latest salvo in a legal soap opera that began in April 2014 after the recording caused a firestorm of criticism when the real estate baron was heard whining to Stiviano that she shouldn’t associate with black people. Mark Cuban made that point in comments about the Sterling matter, and he had some fair points that Sterling is raising in court.
Sterling’s wife, Shelly Sterling, successfully removed her husband from the family trust and completed a sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Now Sterling is going after Stiviano and TMZ for the publication of the recording.
Stiviano’s attorney, Mac Nehoray, previously told The Times that Sterling knew Stiviano recorded him and that his client had nothing to do with the recording’s public release.
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The recordings of Donald Sterling surfaced just weeks after Shelly Sterling sued Stiviano, claiming she was her husband’s mistress. Donald Sterling has little to gain and may further sour the public’s perception of him in an effort to salvage something out of his stunning fall from grace.
