Report: Donald Sterling suing TMZ, V. Stiviano over audio release
There is no place Donald Sterling feels more comfortable than the courtroom. Apparently, he's going to be right at home shortly.
The former owner of the Clippers, who is already suing the NBA and his wife, Shelly, over the sale of what was once his team, has now filed a lawsuit against alleged girlfriend/friend/rando/amazing Twitter follow V. Stiviano and TMZ for joining together to release the audiotape with comments regarding Magic Johnson that disgraced Sterling and eventually got him banned from the NBA, per TMZ. Here's more from the site:
Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling is suing V. Stiviano and TMZ over the recording and publishing of a conversation he had with Stiviano.
Sterling filed the lawsuit Friday in L.A. ... claiming Stiviano "surreptitiously" recorded their convo sometime between September 2013 and April 2014 -- and then either she, or her agents, provided that recording to TMZ.
TMZ posted the recording on April 25, 2014.
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." He also says Stiviano and/or TMZ doctored the contents of the recording.
The NBA banned Sterling for life on April 29, 2014. Donald and his wife Shelly eventually sold the team to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.
Of course, Sterling had plenty of practice in disgrace long before the tape was released. He had been caught up in housing discrimination lawsuits. He had been found to say racially and culturally insensitive things in the past. The Johnson comments were just the ones that finally did him in.
Sterling recently filed for divorce against his wife, but the papers weren't actually filed properly. Their 60th anniversary comes later this month.
Knowing Sterling, he (and his legal team) won't keep quiet on this, so there will probably be plenty to follow.
(h/t TMZ)
