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Judge denies protection for Sterling’s threatening messages
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
A Los Angeles judge denied an emergency motion by Shelly Sterling to protect herself, her lawyers and two doctors after the doctors and lawyers received threatening messages from her estranged husband, Donald Sterling, on Thursday.
Judge Michael Levanas said the voice mails did not rise to a “level of great and irreparable injury.”
Donald Sterling’s voice mail recordings were introduced into court, and they were directed at two doctors who declared him mentally incompetent last month. Those rulings by the doctors allowed Shelly Sterling to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion without the consent of her estranged husband.
In a voice mail to Dr. Meril Sue Platzer on June 9, Sterling said she is “nothing but a fraud and a liar and a cheat.” Sterling said he plans to sue her and will try to have her license revoked.
In an obscenity-laced voice mail that same day to Dr. James Edward Spar, Sterling said he will get Spar fired.
“I’m gonna get you fired from UCLA because you’re nothing but a tramp. How dare you let someone use you that way?” Sterling said. “You know, you rely on doctors. You think that they’ll be above it all. But obviously you’re not. You’ll sell yourself for nothing. How dare you? How dare you give my records to a lawyer for the purposes of using it against me?”
Sterling also allegedly made a call that day to Shelly Sterling’s attorney Pierce O’Donnell, and O’Donnell said in his court statement that Sterling said he was going to “take you out, O’Donnell” and “sue everybody.”
Donald Sterling’s lawyer Max Blecher responded to the voice mails by saying, according to ESPN.com, “He’s got a short fuse . . . that doesn’t mean you’re incapacitated or nuts.”
Shelly Sterling and her attorneys said the court filing was a response to an attempt by Donald Sterling and his lawyers to threaten, intimidate and harass witnesses who will be called in the probate court hearing July 7-10.
That hearing will determine whether Shelly Sterling acted properly in removing her husband as a trustee for the Sterling Family Trust, which owns the team, with Shelly and Donald Sterling each serving as trustees.
