Just the other day, a Probate Court judge approved Shelly Sterling’s request to confirm that Donald Sterling was properly removed as Trustee of the family trust for incompentency and that the sale of the Clippers by her as sole remaining trustee could be effecutated. However, the bombshell came when the Judge also granted Shelly’s request to hold that his order would, in essence, be unappealable. In particular, a litle known and rarely used provision of the Probate Code (Section 1310(b)) was invoked to provide that while the order was subject to appeal, due to the sever risk of loss in value of trust assets (if the sale of the Clippers didn’t go through) the Trustee (Shelly) could continue to act (finalize the sale) and her actions could not be appealable.
In other words, while Donald could appeal the decision, he can’t stop the sale from closing. So even if an appeals court determined the probate judge made an error, he would only be entitled to monetary damages (against his own family trust) and would not be entitled to clawback the Clippers.