Ruling in Dodger divorce case now final

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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon has certified as final the ruling in which he threw out a marital property agreement that would have provided Frank McCourt with sole ownership of the Dodgers.

Gordon set a Jan. 25 hearing to determine the legal language that will be used to document the ruling.

At that point, Frank McCourt is expected to ask the court for a new trial, this one to argue that the Dodgers are his sole property because he holds title to the team and because he bought the team with a company formed before his marriage.

Jamie McCourt argues the ruling makes her the co-owner of the team. Her attorneys have said she could form an ownership group and challenge Frank to sell the Dodgers to her group. Frank has said he has no plans to sell the team, to her or anyone else.

Frank met last week with executives in the commissioner’s office, presenting them with his legal and financial strategies for retaining his ownership of the Dodgers amid a stiff debt and the ongoing divorce proceedings. The meeting was requested by McCourt, and the executives are not believed to have given him assurances of support.

At the owners’ meetings this week, Frank said he did not share the concern of other owners about his ability to retain control of the team.

In finalizing his ruling, Gordon rejected the primary objection lodged by Frank’s attorneys -- that is, that Gordon could have thrown out a portion of the disputed agreement without invalidating the entire agreement.

That portion of the decision, Gordon wrote, ‘represents a ruling and finding on an issue which was vigorously argued and tried by the parties. The court has considered the evidence in this regard.’

-- Bill Shaikin