Richard Fruin, Superior Court Judge in LA, has just approved the request by Donald Sterling’s attorneys for the dismissal of claims made by V. Stiviano last year, after which Sterling is now entitled to seek compensation for his legal fees from her. The lawsuit was about an alleged defamation by Shelly Sterling, Donald Sterling’s wife, as well as the entire Sterling family trust.
Stiviano made claims that Sterling’s wife had damaged her reputation by calling her a thief on national news, and making claims about embezzlement around the same period. According to the attorney representing Shelly Stiviano, those claims were too vague and unclear to have a good legal standing, and should be dismissed. In the end, that’s exactly what happened, as the judge presiding over the case agreed with the claims and allowed the attorneys representing Sterling to move forward with requesting compensation for legal damages incurred in the process.
Now, V. Stiviano faces some harsh charges, as Shelly Sterling has made a claim for $40,460 in legal fees, L.A. Sports Properties have put forward a request for around $19,800, while there is also an additional request for $10,000 that’s stated to cover extra costs related to the ongoing legal proceedings. While Judge Fuin ended up approving the request for compensation, there were some corrections to it, and in the end, around $11,500 were deducted from the sum granted to the requesting parties.
It didn’t take long for Stiviano’s attorney to make a counter-claim, naturally, as they stated that the amounts being sought by the parties were “outrageous”, and requested that the judge reconsider the decision and lower the amount further. Nehoray, the attorney representing Stiviano on the case, went on to add that “a clerk could have done” the job they were being billed for, and it was completely unfair.
Is Donald Sterling out of his own hot waters? Probably not, as his reputation ended up suffering quite a bit in the whole ordeal, despite the fact that he managed to come out victorious in the end. Some aspects of the case are still not entirely clear, and people have been questioning his involvement with some activities going on behind the scenes of his business. Still, Sterling hasn’t commented on those issues recently, and has been focusing most of his comments on the recent lawsuit, and his victory over Stiviano in it. While Stiviano’s attorneys seem to see this battle as not over yet, there doesn’t seem to be much they can do at this point after Judge Fruin issued the last decision, and Sterling seems to have a clear control over the situation from multiple angles.