Calling Forum Lawyers: Is Donald Sterling the Injured Party ?

I'm asking the lawyers on the forum the question of who legally is the injured party in the Donald Sterling matter, based on the facts as we currently know them. Let's assume he is the worthless, crude, unethical, Neanderthal the comments attributed to him suggest. It would seem the law would be against him. No ?

If you're Donald Sterling's lawyer, how would you answer the above question ( and please don't tell me you wouldn't represent old moneybags ) ? Did he do anything illegal ? Doesn't the First Amendment protect moronic and bigoted speech ? It seems to me that the person who broke the law here is his accuser, the woman who recorded the conversation without his knowledge. Forgetting for the moment whether prosecutors would ignore it, isn't it a direct violation of California law that she recorded him without his permission ? Doesn't the law also make her liable for civil damages resulting from her illegal acts ? So when the NBA fines him a million dollars, can't he go after her and attempt to make her pay ?

I'd appreciate if the lawyers on the forum would consider offering a legal opinion, rather than adding discussion about how stupid and bigoted Sterling's remarks are. That is a given.

He's a billionaire.  So what if he can sue her.  What's that gonna do for him.  This is a PR issue for him, not a legal one.  If he goes full bore turning it into a legal issue, then he loses the PR battle, which is much more substantial.  And it's not a first amendment issue because he's not being charged with anything.

It is illegal to record someone without their consent, but I'm pretty sure he's more worried about damage control right now that suing her. Later, when he wants to teach her a lesson, he might sue her for the illegal recording. Just my opinion

He is the victim yes

Can Clipper series degenerates recover losses in a class action suit?

 

 

Uh, since when? Would love to see the law

Pretty sure even the police can't record a phone call and use it any way without a warrant.

People who get sukked into the Race War fabricated by the Media.

Hilarious. It is apparent many knew this guy was a racist for years and years. But that was OK as ling as they were getting paid and it wasn't public. Now that it's public, everyone is outraged. 

ken:  I have no legal experience but am fairly certain that recording consent laws vary from State to State.

People wonder why some don't take accusations of racism seriously. This is exactly why. You can't make an accusation when it is convenient or just jump on board when you see the train leaving the station. 

Exactly Hutch.

Then of course the Media has to fuel the fire.  It's ridiculous.

" Honey drink your juices, while I burn your rich white @ss to the ground....girl of the Century award possibilities here !  

Sterling is the author of his own misfortune.  NBA has legal right to punish famous owners who say racist remarks in public that tarnish the NBA.  If Sterling was a nobody swearing in private, there would be no penalty.

Sterling makes a public "mistake" and NOW it's time for the players and everyone else to take a stand.  

https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/california-recording-law

It is illegal to record someone without their consent in the state of California.

I chimed in on the subj in the Politics Forum as well.

I'm sure any minute the proponents of "what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home as long as they aren't breaking the law" theory will be here any second.

Or does that just apply to g-a-y s-e-x?

Me personally, I'm an across the board "I don't give a damn what you do in the privacy of your own home" kind of guy.

CA lawyer here.

Racist thoughts and attitudes are protected free speech. Acting on those thoughts and attitudes, if done in a discriminatory fashion (i.e., I dunno, in housing?) is illegal under a number of federal and state laws.

On the flip side, recording someone without their consent is also illegal. That's why when, in CA, you call somewhere and you hear a recording that the call may be monitored and recorded for "quality assurance purposes" or really for whatever reason. Notice is the key point. The tape itself would not be admissible in a potential civil jury trial due to this fact, unless the woman could establish that Sterling knew the tape was rolling (highly unlikely -- he may be racist but isn't stupid enough to knowingly put that on tape, especially considering all the full page ads he puts out in the LA Times touting his work with underprivileged youth.)

Even if you could show that she recorded/released the tape, what good does that do you as Sterling's lawyer? You want to recover any "gifts" she got or money she embezzled. I guarantee she has either (a) already spent those funds or (b) will spend them on her attorney. She is, I'm willing to posit, likely "judgment proof". Congrats Donald, you get a judgment against her, and then she will just go file bankruptcy and it will be all wiped away.

Now I see why some of  the old time mafia guys never-ever spoke on a  telephone.

Legally I highly doubt it, but I say that without any knowledge of the contracts that exist between the team and the league and with no knowledge of whether or not CA law would even apply to such a dispute.

That being said, they could do everything they could to pressure him to sell, but I don't think they would have any specific legal recourse.

Now sponsors are dropping the Clippers.  

As much as I agree that the players and coach must have known that this guy was a racist cu nt of epic proportions this is also on Stern and all the other owners that let this coc ksucker survive in the league for 30 years.   Silver will be the one who takes the bullet on this because doesn't matter what he does it wont placate everyone.

I think you misunderstood the issue

Sterling can hate/like whoever he wants and he also has a decades-long history of racism( rental properties ..etc), which was never related to NBA.

you stated that the players are taking Sterling's money.

Really ??

Do you understand how NBA business or any sport-franchise ownership works ?

Did you know that Sterling bought LA Clippers for  a mere 12 millions dollars in 1981

According to Forbes, LA Clippers is worth $575 million

Sterling makes more money than the players

the real victims are the sponsors and the fans

Good point

His decades-long history of racism/bigotry did not stop him from buying the team for a mere 12 millions dollars in 1981.

I am not sure if David Stern could have done anything but Silver has to deal with this arrogant idiot.

The other owners may be racist too

You never know . Sterling thinks he is superior to the black players who make him money.


On the fact that the majority of his players are black: “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have … Who makes the game? Do I make the game or do they make the game?”

old fart Sterling still thinks like a slave master