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Donald Sterling filed on Tuesday afternoon a suit in Superior Court seeking damages from the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver, his wife Shelly Sterling and the LA Clippers Basketball Club, alleging they violated corporate law in attempting to sell the franchise to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Sterling argues he is the sole owner and shareholder of LAC Basketball Club, a franchise and private corporation that manages and runs the Clippers.

He transferred those shares into the Sterling Family Trust in 1998, but when Sterling revoked that trust June 9, the shares of the corporation reverted back to his name, and his wife had no authority to sell them.

"The new lawsuit states the seller of the team is not Donald and it's not Shelly -- the seller of the team is corporation that owns the team, and that's LAC Basketball Club Inc.," Donald Sterling attorney Bobby Samini said Tuesday. "When Donald bought the team, the shares of the corporation are only in Donald's name. They were only issued to Donald, so Donald owns the shares of the corporation. He's the sole shareholder. He put the shares up into the trust in 1989, and when we revoked the trust, the shares go back down to him."

The lawsuit comes as testimony in a trial in California probate court continued Tuesday to determine whether Shelly Sterling acted properly in selling the team to Ballmer.


It is not known whether the probate-court judge will seek to consolidate Tuesday's lawsuit with the current trial.

"I think you're looking at some time into the future," Samini said when asked when Tuesday's lawsuit could be resolved. "Could you get to trial in six to eight months? In a perfect world, it's possible, but you're looking at a year or so before you have a trial on that issue. ... We're not working on deadlines."

Donald Sterling was removed as a trustee from the trust when two neurologists examined him and determined he was mentally incapacitated and unfit to conduct his legal and business affairs. He has since objected to the sale.

Donald Sterling has also filed a federal lawsuit against the NBA seeking $1 billion in damages.

"He's worth more than $2.5 billion without the team," Samini said. "If he was greedy, he would take the money and run. It's not about the money. It's not even about wanting the team. It's showing everybody: If I have a conversation in my living room that's inappropriate, that's not a good thing.

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