Lawyer argues in divorce trial that prenuptual agreement involving Dodgers should be tossed

By Greg Risling, AP
Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Lawyer: Prenup involving Dodgers should be tossed

LOS ANGELES — A marital agreement involving ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers should be thrown out because there are two contradictory versions, a lawyer for former team CEO Jamie McCourt told a judge Wednesday.

Testimony showed Jamie McCourt and her husband Frank McCourt signed six copies of the postnuptial agreement in 2004. Three made the team the personal property of Frank McCourt and three didn’t, attorney Dennis Wasser said in his closing argument at the divorce trial.

“When parties sign two versions of a contract which contain directly contradictory material terms, there is no meeting of the minds and hence, no contract at all,” Wasser said.

Frank McCourt’s attorney was expected to make his closing argument later in the day.

Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon has 90 days to decide whether Frank McCourt is the sole owner of the Dodgers or if the 10-page document giving him the team, its stadium and surrounding land should be thrown out and the couple’s assets divided as community property.

He also could order the sale of the team.

The McCourts, armed with a cadre of high-powered lawyers, have met at the negotiating table several times to try to settle the dispute. The most recent session came Friday with no resolution.

They were expected to resume mediation on Oct. 9, according to court spokesman Allan Parachini.

Jamie McCourt was fired in October as the team’s CEO, a job that paid her a $2 million annual salary. She filed for divorce the same month, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple have been married since 1979 and have four grown sons.

She lost her initial bid to be reinstated as the team’s chief executive but was awarded $225,000 a month in temporary spousal support along with having her estranged husband pay more than $400,000 a month for the couple’s six homes and a condominium.

She had been seeking nearly $1 million a month; Frank McCourt had offered her $150,000.

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