If I had a nickel for every time Jeanie Buss took her family to court, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s odd that it’s happened twice.
Jeanie has officially filed a petition to block the family’s sale of the Lakers, a move that became public on Tuesday. It’s the second time Jeanie has taken her siblings to court over matters relating to the Lakers.
The 97-page(!!) petition includes a whole host of things including Jeanie calling the actions of her siblings “devious behavior” and stating that she “never agreed to any sale, was never consulted and was never even informed,” all reported by Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the LA Times.
“Jeanie thought she had put all of her siblings’ scheming and manipulations behind her in 2017,” the petition reads. “Sadly, that was not the case — and Jeanie must respectfully request relief from this Court a second time.”
Among five points on the petition, Jeanie hopes to declare her siblings’ votes to sell the team void, remove Janie and Joey as co-trustees for “breach of fiduciary duty” and hold both in contempt of court and hold Jim, Johnny and Jesse in contempt and liable for “aiding and abetting.”
Jeanie’s stance is based on that 2017 ruling, which backed her as the family attempted what was effectively a coup to get her out as owner after she fired Jim Buss from the front office.
Two other parts of Jeanie’s petition are that she believes the franchise is being undervalued with the sale and that the price will only continue to go up. On top of that, she also has the backing of the two other minority owners, Patrick Soon-Shiong and Ed Roski.
The petition adds that Lakers minority owners Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the L.A. Times and said he plans to hold onto his 4% stake in the Lakers, and Ed Roski Jr. believe Jeanie is “the right person to continue as controlling owner and NBA governor of the Lakers to help preserve and continue to grow the value of the Lakers stock investments.”
Perhaps the worst news is that the court date is slated for Nov. 5, which means we’re still far from a resolution, barring an unlikely out-of-court settlement.
So, buckle up, folks. We’re gonna be here a while.
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