Jamie Mccourt

On the day the Angels re-signed Bobby Abreu to a multiyear deal, the future of the Dodgers started to take shape on the eighth floor of the Los Angeles Superior Court building. Slowly. While Jamie McCourt was denied her request to be immediately reinstated as the Dodgers' chief executive in an emergency hearing Thursday, the more important issue of whether she is a co-owner of the storied franchise along with soon-to-be ex-husband Frank McCourt did not become any clearer -- and probably won't be for some time.

SAN DIEGO — Frank McCourt and Magic Johnson sat next to each other Thursday, the outgoing owner and the most famous of the incoming owners watching the Dodgers play on opening day. For McCourt and for Johnson, the work in the Dodgers sale is done. For the attorneys responsible for turning a winning bid into contractual agreements that satisfy the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the race is on. The terms of the sale are scheduled to be filed in court Friday, the first of several steps required before April 30, when the deal is set to close.

Jamie McCourt argued in a motion Monday that the Dodgers should not be a party in a divorce hearing, asking the court to throw out papers filed in the team's name that "unnecessarily and gratuitously attack" her. The motion is expected to be considered Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court as part of a hearing to determine the validity of McCourt's demand for immediate reinstatement as the Dodgers' chief executive. Frank McCourt, her estranged husband, fired her two weeks ago. After she filed for divorce last week, he responded in a filing that her reinstatement would be "akin to throwing a bomb into a crowded room."

With the sale of the Dodgers in its final stages, three key parties lodged objections Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Major League Baseball, Fox Sports and Jamie McCourt each raised concerns that they asked the court to consider on or before April 13, the day of the scheduled hearing to approve the Dodgers' sale. The concerns appear unlikely to derail the sale. Frank McCourt, the Dodgers' outgoing owner, has agreed to provide the court with a sale agreement by April 6. In its filing, MLB claimed that the Dodgers used overly broad and legally inconsistent language in phrasing how the league and the team would release each other from future liability.

They are nine words buried in the fine print of a legal document that divides family assets between Frank McCourt and Jamie McCourt. They sit toward the end of a paragraph that lists properties belonging solely to Frank McCourt: "all assets of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team." Jamie McCourt insisted in her divorce filing this week that she is entitled to a share of ownership in the Dodgers. However, she faces an uphill battle in persuading a court to throw out the legal agreement that says otherwise, according to three family law experts surveyed Thursday by The Times.

David Boies, one of America's most celebrated trial lawyers, has joined the team of attorneys representing Jamie McCourt in her divorce from Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Boies is perhaps best known for representing Al Gore before the U.S. Supreme Court in the wake of the 2000 presidential election. This year, he asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to rule Proposition 8 — the initiative in which state voters defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman — as unconstitutional.

Sat down with the Screaming Meanie on Tuesday morning, and how about that, even cutting into Jamie McCourt's negotiated swimming time. Until now she hasn't said anything publicly since being fired by her husband as Dodgers CEO, being labeled an adulterer in the process and pounded in court filings. "I've been creamed," is the way she put it. "But I've decided I'm going to take the high road." California is a no-fault state when it comes to divorce, and since she was described as an "at will" hire by Frank McCourt in a letter terminating her services as the team's CEO, there was no apparent need in either case to detail any alleged wrongdoings.

In making her case for temporary spousal support, Jamie McCourt fired back at her estranged husband in court papers filed Monday, making a reference to Frank McCourt's "extramarital activities." "Frank [and his lawyers] ... make some hurtful and unnecessary personal comments about me," she wrote. "I would prefer not to address such accusations or to discuss my belief as to Frank's extramarital activities." Dennis Wasser, an attorney for Jamie McCourt, declined to elaborate.

Dodgers fans will support Manny Ramirez when he returns in early July from his 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, Chief Executive Jamie McCourt said Saturday. "I think I speak for a lot of people when I say all of us are disappointed," said McCourt, who owns the team with husband Frank McCourt. Still, "I think people will welcome him back, will be happy when he's back," she said after unveiling a new ZIP Code (90090) designated for the Dodgers, a move she spearheaded.

Jamie McCourt wants nearly $1 million per month in temporary support from her estranged husband, an amount disclosed in a court filing in which her lawyers allege Frank McCourt has engaged in a "carefully calculated subterfuge designed to mislead the court" about his financial resources. The filing, unsealed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, includes details of how Frank McCourt hopes to transform the Dodgers from a baseball team into the anchor of a sports business empire that could include cable television channels broadcast in English and Spanish; homes, shops and a football stadium within the Dodger Stadium parking lots; and the purchase of a soccer club in China and another in the English Premier League.

Within 48 hours of agreeing to sell the Dodgers, team owner Frank McCourt officially surrendered his claim to what had been his Los Angeles homes. Under a divorce settlement filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Jamie McCourt kept four homes — two in Malibu, one in Holmby Hills and one in Vail, Colo. Frank McCourt kept two homes, both in Massachusetts. The McCourts sold a second Holmby Hills home in August. Representatives for Frank McCourt did not immediately return messages asking whether he intended to move back to Massachusetts, where his family is deeply rooted.

One down, one to go. As you have probably heard by now, Jamie McCourt has finally left the Dodgers, surrendering all claims to a team she used as her personal makeup mirror. The cost to her ex-husband Frank McCourt will be $130 million. The idea that she will no longer be around to abuse one of the greatest opportunities ever enjoyed by a female sports executive is priceless. Even if Frank McCourt is somehow able to maintain ownership of the team, his bitter half is gone, and we should mark the occasion with a moment of sigh-lence.

Frank and Jamie McCourt have reached a divorce settlement under which she would get about $130 million and relinquish any claim to a share of the Dodgers, multiple people familiar with the agreement told The Times. The settlement would remove Jamie McCourt as an obstacle to Frank McCourt's plan to retain ownership of the team by selling the Dodgers' television rights in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The agreement also would appear to set up a winner-take-all court showdown for the Dodgers between Frank McCourt and Commissioner Bud Selig.

In what could be the first of several housing sales, Jamie McCourt unloaded her swimming pool in Holmby Hills — and the nearly 8,400-square-foot house that goes with it — for $6,525,000 in August, public records show. Jamie and ex-husband Frank McCourt bought the gated property in 2004 for $6.5 million to create a compound of nearly five acres that included a pool. The Bostonians' main residence, a Palladian-style villa of 20,000 square feet next door, was purchased for about $25 million.

In what could be the first of several housing sales, Jamie McCourt unloaded her swimming pool in Holmby Hills — and the nearly 8,400-square-foot house that goes with it — for $6,525,000 last month, public records show. Divorcing Dodgers owners Jamie and Frank McCourt bought the gated property in 2004 for $6.5 million to create a compound of nearly 5 acres that included a pool. The Bostonians' main residence, a Palladian-style villa of 20,000 square feet next door, was purchased for about $25 million.

Frank and Jamie McCourt expect to settle their divorce — and with it the question of who owns the Dodgers — in a trial during the 2012 baseball season. The trial is expected to start next spring or summer and last 30 to 45 days, a timetable set forth by attorneys on both sides after a hearing Wednesday at Los Angeles Superior Court. Frank McCourt claims sole ownership of the Dodgers and ex-wife Jamie claims half-ownership. It is unclear when the Dodgers will emerge from federal bankruptcy protection.

Dodger co-owner Jamie McCourt might have been permanently blinded in her right eye after contracting a bacterial infection last month that has prevented her from attending games at Dodger Stadium. McCourt, 50, has been diagnosed with a corneal ulcer, a painful condition that has rendered her blind in her right eye. She is believed to have contracted the disorder last month when bacteria infiltrated her eye during one of her daily swims.

Jamie McCourt considered whether to parlay her high-profile position with the Dodgers into the pursuit of political offices, including president of the United States, according to documents filed by her estranged husband in the couple's divorce proceedings. McCourt declined to comment Monday, after speaking at a luncheon benefiting the Jewish Federation of Orange County. She told the crowd she had no desire to stage a public fight over ownership of the Dodgers but even less desire to walk away from a 30-year marriage on terms dictated by Frank McCourt.

With a federal Bankruptcy Court controlling the future of the Dodgers, Jamie McCourt is considering whether she could get the team sold by asking a divorce court to order the sale of all of the business assets of her ex-husband, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. That possible strategy was disclosed by her attorneys on Thursday, after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon set hearings to decide whether McCourt should reduce the monthly support he pays his ex-wife and if he should pay any of her attorney fees.

Frank and Jamie McCourt could pay more in divorce bills than the Dodgers pay any of their players, as the legal costs mount in what might well be the costliest split in state history. The McCourts could spend close to $35 million in legal fees and costs, based on figures included in filings in Los Angeles County Superior Court. "I don't think anything has even come close to that in California," said Lynn Soodik, a Santa Monica family law attorney who represented Meg Ryan in her divorce from Dennis Quaid.