Former Los Angeles Clippers Owner’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims
A tort is a violation of a duty imposed by the civil law (Beatty, Samuelson, & Bredeson 2013). A business tort, also called an economic tort, usually involves unfair practices that result in improper interference with a business contract (Beatty et al., 2013).
Purpose of article
This article is about the court case between former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Mr. Sterling filed a civil suit against the NBA and the commissioner for breach of fiduciary duty claims after the commissioner banned him from the NBA and fined him $2.5 million dollars (Unger, 2014). Mr. Sterling is seeking damages of more than $1 billion. The author is writing the article to discuss in detail, the complaints brought forth by Mr. Sterling. Did the NBA and Mr. Silver in fact owe Mr. Sterling the fiduciary duties listed on the complaint because of a breach of contract (Unger, 2014)?
Thesis of the article The thesis of the above article is that Mr. Sterling must prove there was an existence of a fiduciary relationship with the defendant, misconduct, and damages that were caused by the NBA fiduciary’s breach (Unger, 2013).
Key Points/facts The key point evident in the article is the private conversation between Mr. Sterling and his then girlfriend Vivian Stiviano. Vivian Stiviano recorded the conversation between her and Mr. Sterling without his knowledge. Mr. Sterling argues the recording of the conversation was illegal due to California Invasion of privacy act. His argument is that Stiviano had no right to record his conversation without his knowledge. During the conversation, Mr. Sterling made racial remarks about African Americans. After the conversation was leaked by the media, the NBA conducted an investigation into Donald Sterling. The result of the investigation was a $2,500,000 fine and a lifetime ban from the NBA (Unger, 2014). To fight the ban and fine, Sterling filed several complaints seeking compensation of damages in excess of $1 billion as well as injunctive relief (Unger, 2014). The complaint alleges the NBA and Mr. Silver breached their fiduciary duty by using an illegally recorded conversation in order to decide the punishment. Next, the complaint alleges the NBA and Mr. Silver breached their fiduciary duty because of how severe the punishment was, compared to other punishments handed down by the NBA. Lastly, the complaint alleges the NBA breached their fiduciary duty by not performing an adequate investigation and not giving Mr. Sterling time to prepare his defense (Unger, 2014).
Conclusions and Recommendations The NBA’s constitution states the commissioner has the power to suspend, fine, or punish players, owners, or teams (Unger, 2014). This policy makes it extremely hard for Mr. Sterling to prove his case. Because the NBA is an organization with bi-laws, the Supreme Court will not normally get involved with such cases. With all of the legal issues involved in this case, a win for Mr. Sterling seems unattainable. I would recommend he should drop the lawsuit all together and cut his loses.