Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Ordered to Pay $2.3 Million to Building Fire Victim

Donald Sterling, an all-around terrible person, has been ordered to pay $2.3 million to a woman who lost most of her stuff in a fire that occurred in one of Sterling’s buildings (he owns 130 buildings and 7,000 units in SoCal.) Reports West Hollywood Patch and the AP: “An actress who said she lost most of her personal belongings and perhaps her ability to continue her career as a result of a fire in a West Hollywood apartment building owned by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was awarded $2.3 million in damages Monday. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury, which started deliberating late Thursday afternoon, found Sterling liable for breach of contract, breach of the warranty of habitability and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Of the total award, the jury allocated $2 million to compensate Robyn Cohen for past and future emotional distress damages. The panel also found that Sterling and his employees acted with malice toward Cohen, triggering a second phase of trial to begin Monday afternoon to determine if she is entitled to punitive damages from Sterling. […] In her final argument Thursday, lawyer Melissa Yoon said the 79-year-old real estate mogul has never taken responsibility for not having a fully functioning fire detection system at the time of the Sept. 28, 2009, blaze. ‘Mr. Sterling sought to blame anyone but himself,’ Yoon said. She played a video deposition in which the billionaire, when asked about the deficiencies, replied, ‘So what?’ […] She sued Sterling over a 2009 fire caused by an electrical problem. She said a fire alarm horn and a dozen smoke detectors in the building weren’t working. Sterling’s attorney argued that the fire detection system worked well enough to alert the manager, who got tenants to leave. Other tenants also sued but settled before trial.”