The Buss family’s situation just got stickier.
Five Buss siblings filed an additional 29-page document about their sister, Los Angeles Lakers acting governor Jeanie, to the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
It was filed on behalf of Joey and Janie Buss in opposition to their sister.
The court document opposed Jeanie’s previous petition seeking to remove them as co-trustees. Were they to be removed, it would void the siblings’ 5-1 vote to sell the family’s remaining stake in the team.
Jeanie Buss has been integral in the Buss family sale of the Lakers not being finalized.
NBA Governorship requires at least a 15% ownership stake, which if the Buss family sold its remaining 17.8% shares, would effectively remove her from that role.
The majority ownership group previously led by current Dodgers owner Mark Walter shockingly sold the Lakers to the new majority owners, businessman Josh Kushner and former The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, in August.
The new filing disputes Jeanie’s right to decide the future of the family’s stake in the Lakers.
Instead, it re-states that any proposed sale should require the two-thirds majority vote by all of the siblings. On the initial vote, Jeanie was the only member of the six children to vote against the sale.
There are several other claims in the document, including that the Buss siblings, “exercised voting rights expressly granted to them as beneficiaries, which the filing argues cannot constitute contempt or aiding and abetting a fiduciary breach.”
The separation between Jeanie and the rest of her siblings has been well-documented at this point. But this new ruling adds another layer of context to an already fractured family situation.
