Attorneys sue Donald Sterling for fees from legal fight over sale of Clippers

Two law firms sued Donald Sterling in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, alleging that the former Clippers owner owes them more than $271,000 for representing him during the legal fight over the franchise in 2014.

“Plaintiffs attempted to resolve this fee dispute with defendant outside of the courtroom by direct negotiation,” the complaint said. “All of those efforts have proven unsuccessful and plaintiffs’ patience and attempts at resolution have been disregarded or exploited by defendant.”

Sterling paid a $75,000 retainer in June 2014 for the Los Angeles-based firms of Bloom & Ruttenberg and Ginzburg & Bronshteyn to join his legal team.

They were part of the high-profile probate trial in L.A. Superior Court in which Judge Michael Levanas ruled in July 2014 that Sterling’s wife, Shelly Sterling, acted appropriately in agreeing to sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer for a record $2 billion.

The Bloom & Ruttenberg firm is owed $185,138.84 plus interest, the complaint said, while Ginzburg & Bronshteyn is due $86,240 plus interest.

Bobby Samini, Donald Sterling’s current attorney, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

The complaint, which also named Shelly Sterling as a defendant in her capacity as the lone trustee for the family trust that owned the Clippers, said that “no legitimate reason” has been provided “for the failure to pay.”

“Shelly never hired those lawyers,” her attorney Pierce O’Donnell said. “These were Donald’s lawyers. They lost the case, and not surprisingly, Donald stiffed them. In our legal system, the winners do not pay the loser’s legal fees.”

Maxwell Blecher, also part of Donald Sterling’s legal team during the trial, declined to comment on the matter other than to say he has “no similar issues” with payment.

Gary Ruttenberg, from Bloom & Ruttenberg, also had no comment.

Despite a string of legal defeats, Sterling’s struggle over the sale of the Clippers continues. He’s currently appealing the March dismissal of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the NBA, Commissioner Adam Silver, Shelly Sterling and others. It alleges they engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to strip Donald Sterling of ownership of the Clippers.

Until the lawsuit is resolved, $1 billion of the proceeds from the franchise’s sale remain in an NBA-controlled escrow account because Shelly Sterling indemnified the league against litigation by her husband.

nathan.fenno@latimes.com

Twitter: @nathanfenno