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Case file s469 · Music and sport · 2014
See 2014 on the timelineSee it in 3D
2014
Died
living; case decided 28 July 2014
Place
Los Angeles, California · United States
Field
NBA team owner (Los Angeles Clippers) · Sport on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (California); trust law · Common law
Historical event
Sterling racism recording and NBA lifetime ban, April 2014
Music and sportNowNorth AmericaUnited States
AI illustration: An empty basketball arena in Los Angeles, 2014
Illustration made with AI for celebrity.estate.

Doctors declared Donald Sterling incapacitated, and his wife sold the Clippers out from under him for $2 billion

In April 2014 a recording of Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks became public. The NBA banned him for life and moved to force a sale. The team was held by the Sterling Family Trust, with Donald and his estranged wife, Shelly, as trustees. Shelly had Donald examined by doctors, who certified him mentally incapacitated. "The doctors certified Donald as incapacitated," her lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, told the court. Under the trust's terms, that removed him as trustee. In May she agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer for a record $2 billion. Donald sued to stop it. In Los Angeles Superior Court, probate judge Michael Levanas ruled for Shelly on 28 July 2014. He found her more credible than Donald, who behaved erratically on the stand. The judge also ordered that the sale could close regardless of any appeal. Ballmer owns the Clippers in 2026.

What the law took from it

A trust's incapacity clause can transfer control of a family asset on two doctors' letters, without a court first finding the person incompetent.

Sources
  1. NPRPress
  2. wnyc.orgPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Doctors declared Donald Sterling incapacitated, and his wife sold the Clippers out from under him for $2 billion,” story s469, https://www.celebrity.estate/doctors-2014, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States