Sterling trial gets underway after delay

LOS ANGELES — A neurologist testified Monday that Donald Sterling likely has Alzheimer's disease as a trial over the $2 billion Los Angeles Clippers sale finally got underway.

Dr. Meril Sue Platzer testified that she was hired by Sterling's wife, Shelly, to evaluate him and made the diagnosis based on imaging tests and a two-hour interview at his home with his wife and an attorney present.

"After it was over," she said. "I told him and Mrs. Sterling that he probably has Alzheimer's."

"What was his reaction?" asked Pierce O'Donnell, an attorney for Sterling's wife.

"I'm hungry. I want to eat," Platzer said.

The NBA has moved to oust the 80-year-old Sterling as team owner because of racist remarks he made during a recorded conversation.

Platzer was the first witness to testify in a trial to determine whether Sterling's wife was authorized under a family trust to single-handedly make the deal to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Her lawyers actually called Donald Sterling to the stand first but he wasn't in the courthouse and was ordered to appear when the non-jury trial resumes in Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier, a federal judge rejected a bid by Donald Sterling's lawyers to move the case to federal court.

Donald Sterling's attorneys argued that their client was induced to undergo mental examination under false pretenses and that his private, personal medical records were given to his wife's "handpicked" doctors in violation of federal medical privacy laws.

Platzer testified that she wasn't told that her evaluation was in connection with the Clippers sale.

His wife's lawyers claim Donald Sterling has been engaging in tactics to run out the clock on the Clippers sale.

NBA owners are scheduled to vote on the deal on July 15. It's also the day that Ballmer's offer is set to expire — and there is no deal without the judge's approval of the sale.

If the sale isn't completed by Sept. 15, the league said it could seize the team and put it up for auction.