In what is shaping up to be a classic celebrity battle, the attorneys for Frank and Jamie McCourt volleyed contradictory claims of who really owns the Dodgers just one day after the couple's marriage separation was announced.
The looming showdown confirmed what many Dodger fans fear, that the team could be embroiled in a prolonged ownership battle that may affect the running of the club.
Dennis Wasser, who represents Jamie McCourt, on Thursday rebutted claims that Frank McCourt is the club's sole owner.
"We disagree," Wasser said. "We are confident that, if the ownership issue must be adjudicated, the Dodgers will be determined to be community property, owned 50% by each of the McCourts."
But Marshall Grossman, who represents Frank McCourt, said he has documents to back up his assertion that his client is the sole owner.
"Anyone reading them will readily see that Mr. McCourt's ownership is 100%," said Grossman, who declined to release the documents.
Wasser said he was unaware of any such documents and said he knew of no reason why California's community property law would not apply.
"Everything I've seen leads me to believe it's 50-50, whether there's a document or not," Wasser said.
All this transpired as the Dodgers prepared to play the first game of the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies won Game 1, 8-6.
Major League Baseball lists Frank McCourt as the Dodgers' "control person." But a high-ranking baseball source said Thursday that the couple presented themselves together for the approval of Commissioner Bud Selig when they bought the team in 2004.
"I firmly believe each of them is going to try to keep the team," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation. "I think it's going to be pretty ugly."
Neither Frank nor Jamie McCourt has spoken publicly about their separation, instead leaving comments up to some of the biggest legal names in town.
Grossman is a high-powered business litigator whose clients have included AIG, Apple Computers and such celebrities as singer Mariah Carey, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and writer J.K. Rowling. Frank McCourt also has retained veteran family law attorney Manley Freid, who represented Tom Arnold in his divorce from comedian Roseanne Barr, battled Lee Iacocca in court on behalf of his third wife, and helped Janet Jackson's former husband, Rene Elizondo, try to challenge a prenuptial agreement.
