On Monday, a judge reversed course by dismissing a defamation lawsuit by Vivian Stiviano against Shelly Sterling, wife of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Stiviano was claiming that Sterling had called her a thief and an embezzler in hundreds if not thousands of media reports. However, there was no evidence to support this claim.
Judge Richard Fruin wrote, “Stiviano does not identify to whom any such statement was made. There is no information from which it may be determined that any statement, defamatory or not, was made by Mrs. Sterling at all.”
In addition, a March 9 trial is scheduled in which Sterling is suing Stiviano for the return of $2.5 million in gifts from her husband. Sterling seems quite confident in her chancing of winning because her attorney says the items Stiviano received from Donald Sterling were community property and he had no right to give them away.
The Clippers seem to be doing just fine after the Sterling breakup, and have moved on to Steve Ballmer, who bought the team for $2 billion.