Jeanie Buss Takes Battle With Siblings Over Laker Control To Court Once Again

LOS ANGELES, CA — Reigniting a court battle that began in 2017, Jeanie Buss has filed a petition to stop her five siblings from selling the family's remaining ownership in the NBA team and to have two of them explain why they should not be held in contempt of court.

"In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, 'It's like déja vu all over again,"' the Los Angeles Superior Court legal action filed Monday states. "Jeanie comes now, unfortunately having once again been forced to seek relief to enforce her parents' intent and the clear, unequivocal and immutable terms of the Jo Ann 2006 (Electing Small Business Trust)."

On Aug. 17, ESPN first reported that the six Buss siblings had voted to sell the family's remaining 17.8% ownership of the team to new majority owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.

In a statement to ESPN, the Buss family said, "We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can."

ESPN reported that a majority of the Buss siblings — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — voted to sell off the family's remaining stake in the team.

Any such sale would result in Jeanie Buss no longer being the team's governor, since she would no longer have the qualifying 15% ownership stake in the franchise required to hold that position. She has been team governor since 2013, following the death of her father Jerry Buss.

But in the petition, Jeanie Buss' attorneys say that under the NBA Constitution, Jeanie Buss qualifies to continue to serve as the NBA controlling owner and governor of the Lakers so long as she is the legal owner, either directly or as a trustee, of a minimum of 15% of the issued and outstanding equity interest in the Lakers.

In 2017, Jeanie Buss was forced to seek court relief when two of her siblings, James and Johnny, unsuccessfully "plotted a boardroom coup to remove Jeanie from her position as controlling owner," the petition states.

Now, siblings Janie and Joey Buss have "brazenly, knowingly and intentionally violated a 2017 order obtained by Jeanie Buss as well as the express provisions of the Jo Ann 2006 ESBT by secretly signing a purported resolution "void on its face" to sell a portion of the Jo Ann 2006 ESBT's 17.82% stake in the Lakers, according to the petition.

The resolution "flies in the face of the 2017 order as it would disqualify Jeanie from serving as the NBA controlling owner of the Lakers," the petition further alleges.

Jeanie Buss is asking a judge to declare the siblings' resolution void and for Janie and Joey Buss to be removed as trustees for allegedly putting their interests ahead of those of the other trustees. Jeanie Buss also wants a judge to demand that Janie and Joey Buss show why they should not be held in contempt of court for allegedly violating the 2017 order.

The family trust was set up by Jerry Buss, the team's longtime owner. He died in February 2013 at age 80.

City News Service