LOS ANGELES (AP) – A judge reversed course Monday and dismissed a defamation lawsuit by Donald Sterling’s mistress against the estranged wife of the former Los Angeles Clippers owner.
Judge Richard Fruin issued a tentative ruling last week saying he planned to allow the suit, but he reconsidered after arguments from Shelly Sterling’s lawyer. It is unusual for a judge to reverse a tentative ruling.
The judge found V. Stiviano presented no evidence to support her claim that Shelly Sterling called her a thief and an embezzler in hundreds if not thousands of media reports. He said she did not present a single quotation to support her claim.
“Stiviano does not identify to whom any such statement was made,” Fruin wrote. “There is no information from which it may be determined that any statement, defamatory or not, was made by Mrs. Sterling at all.”
The judge also rejected Stiviano’s claim that former Clippers President Andy Roeser also defamed her at the instruction of Shelly Sterling. He said there was no evidence of that.