Former Golden State Warriors basketball star Latrell Sprewell is in an Oakland courtroom Thursday for a trial on his allegation that negligence by his real estate agent cost him $540,000 after he sold his Hayward home in 1999.
The trial is taking place a few blocks from where Sprewell famously attacked his coach in 1997 after the coach criticized his basketball passes.
Sprewell, 38, who hasn't played professional basketball since the end of the 2004-05 season, alleges in his suit in Alameda County Superior Court that his agent, Nina Jurjevic, failed to disclose water intrusion problems when Sprewell sold his home at 27097 Greenhaven Road in Hayward to Gulalai Rahimi.
Rahimi filed suit on July 19, 2002, alleging that Sprewell either intentionally or negligently failed to disclose the water intrusion problem.
On Dec. 23, 2005, an arbitrator ordered Sprewell to pay $540,000 in damages to Rahimi.
Sprewell is seeking to recover that amount from Jurjevic, alleging that the agent knew about the water intrusion problems but failed to tell Rahimi about them.
In a brief, Jurjevic's attorney, James Mills, said Sprewell filed his suit after the two-year statute of limitations had expired and that the legal obligation to make disclosures was Sprewell's alone.
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Sprewell's attorney, Vernon Goins, gave his opening statement on Tuesday and the trial is now in its third day.
On Dec. 1, 1997, Sprewell attacked Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo at the team's practice facility in downtown Oakland, allegedly after the coach yelled at him to make crisper passes.
According to the Warriors, Sprewell attacked Carlesimo twice in a 15-minute span, choking him at one point and threatening to kill him at another.
The Warriors voided the remainder of Sprewell's contract and the National Basketball Association expelled him, but an arbitrator reduced the suspension to the rest of that season and Sprewell joined the New York Knicks the following season, helping the Knicks reach the NBA finals.
Sprewell was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves after the 2003 season and ended his career with them.
His suit also names Mason-McDuffie Real Estate, Jurjevic's broker, as a defendant.
