LOS ANGELES -- The legal jostling between five of the Buss siblings against their sister, Lakers acting governor Jeanie Buss, continued Friday with an additional filing submitted to the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The 29-page document, reviewed by ESPN, was filed on behalf of Joey and Janie Buss in opposition to their sister and her previous petition seeking to remove them as co-trustees and void the siblings' 5-1 vote to sell the family's remaining stake in the team.
"This dispute turns on (1) who had the authority to decide whether the Trust would continue, (2) what event would terminate it, and (3) what the Trustee Respondents were required to do once that event occurred," Friday's filing says. "The Trust's text unambiguously answers each question."
The new filing not only argues Joey and Janie's right to hold the vote to sell and highlights language in the trust that states a sale requires a two-thirds majority by the siblings, which they exceeded, but it also challenges the breadth of Jeanie's rights as a co-trustee and acting governor.
The filing follows a 36-page opposition submitted to the court Oct. 7 by all five siblings -- Jimmy, Johnny and Jesse included -- that argued their right to terminate the family trust and sell their remaining 17.82% of the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger's ownership group after the pair agreed to purchase the Lakers from Mark Walter at a $12.5 billion valuation.
Both filings come in response to Jeanie, through her lawyer Adam Streisand, submitting a 97-page petition to the court in August aimed to block the sale of the family's stake in the team to Kushner and Iger, who, sources told ESPN, are expected to take control of the franchise following an NBA board of governors vote in November.