The battle for Los Angeles' storied baseball team hit the courts Tuesday when former Dodgers chief executive Jamie McCourt filed a divorce petition laying claim to half of the team and other assets she valued at more than $1 billion.
In the petition, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Jamie McCourt claimed irreconcilable differences and asked for immediate reinstatement to the job from which her husband, Frank, fired her a week ago.
Frank McCourt countered with his own filing, asking the court to declare him the sole owner of the team at once, then handle the larger divorce case later.
The filings publicly revealed a power struggle months in the making and far from over. And it promised to feed gossip sites and Dodgers fans with salacious details of the Los Angeles power elite.
Jamie McCourt portrayed the couple as reveling in an extravagant lifestyle, including $400 dinners and $5,000 hotel rooms. She is asking the court for $487,634 in monthly spousal support if she does not return to her job and $320,967 if she does. That amount, she said, would cover, among other things, unlimited travel expenses, access to private jets, money to cover hair and makeup for Dodgers events and access to postseason games, even if the Dodgers are not playing.
In her filing, Jamie McCourt says that she and her husband typically dined out at expensive restaurants four to five times a week and traveled frequently, "always first class. Many of our travel costs are paid by the Dodger entities."
She estimated the net worth of the couple at $1.2 billion and the value of the Dodgers, including the stadium and surrounding real estate, at $800 million. If the court rules the team is community property and the parties decided they could no longer work together, the McCourts might have to sell the team if neither one can raise the money to buy out the other.
The fate of the franchise could rest on the validity of a document the McCourts signed five years ago.
On March 31, 2004, two months after the purchase of the Dodgers, the McCourts entered into an agreement that provided Frank with sole ownership of the team and other business interests and provided Jamie with sole ownership of eight residential properties as well as artwork, jewelry, cars and boats, according to the filing.
