Jamie Mccourt

The most curious figure to emerge in the Dodgers' drama answers the door with a kindly smile and a hearty handshake. He motions toward the living room, where his wife has put out a spread of chocolate and fruit, coffee and tea. Vladimir Shpunt, 71, lived most of his life in Russia. He has three degrees in physics and a letter of reference from a Nobel Prize winner. He knows next to nothing about baseball. Yet the Dodgers hired him to, well, think blue. Frank and Jamie McCourt paid him to help the team win by sending positive energy over great distances.

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.

With the fight for ownership of the Dodgers expected to hit the courts this week, the commissioner's office is monitoring the proceedings but expecting little effect on the daily operations of the club. Frank McCourt, who asserts he is the sole owner of the Dodgers, fired his estranged wife Jamie as the team's chief executive Wednesday. Jamie McCourt, who claims she is a co-owner of the team, is expected to respond by initiating legal proceedings this week. "Obviously, there's a disruption there," said Bob DuPuy, president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball.

The war of words continued to rage Tuesday in the Dodgers' divorce battle, with attorneys for both sides stating their cases in court papers filed in advance of Thursday's initial court hearing. Jamie McCourt, who claims co-ownership of the Dodgers, has asked the court for immediate reinstatement as chief executive officer of the team. Her attorneys argued such an order would maintain "the marital status quo, at least until the issue of ownership of the franchise has been finally determined."

As Jamie McCourt vanished from the Dodgers' website, Frank McCourt charged his estranged wife with insubordination and inappropriate behavior in a letter firing her as the team's chief executive. The letter, signed by Frank McCourt on letterhead that identifies him as the Dodgers' owner, advises Jamie McCourt to contact team human relations personnel to arrange "a time and date to gather your personal belongings." The letter is dated Wednesday, the day the Dodgers were eliminated from the National League Championship Series in Philadelphia.

Frank and Jamie McCourt have "amicably resolved" the issue of how much money the Dodgers owner should pay to support his estranged wife for now, his lawyers said in a court filing Tuesday. The filing did not specify how the issue had been resolved. Jamie McCourt had asked for $488,000 per month in temporary spousal support. The "interim support" settlement would postpone a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, and clear one hurdle toward resolving the major legal question: Who owns the Dodgers?

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has fired his estranged wife Jamie from her position as the team's chief executive, triggering what her attorney said would be an imminent legal response. "Jamie is disappointed and saddened by her termination," attorney Dennis Wasser said this afternoon. "As co-owner of the Dodgers, she will address this and all other issues in the courtroom." Wasser would not say whether Jamie McCourt would continue to occupy her office at Dodger Stadium. He said that would depend on the outcome of legal proceedings he expected to initiate "in the next couple weeks."

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ordered Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to pay his estranged wife, Jamie, $637,159 a month in temporary spousal support, plus lawyers' fees pending their divorce. The amount that Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon decided upon falls short of the $988,845 that Jamie McCourt requested. More than half that requested amount ($568,829), her lawyers said, is needed to pay the costs, including mortgages, of seven homes and an eighth piece of property in Mexico that are listed in her name.