Dodgers bankruptcy judge orders fan letters pulled from court file

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With the score 5-0, the judge called the game.

After a clerk inserted five letters opposing owner Frank McCourt in the Dodgers’ bankruptcy case file, the judge on Friday said those letters had been “inadvertently docketed” and ordered them removed from the file.

The letters attracted media attention -- check here, here and here, for example -- and the judge advised prospective letter-writers that he had gotten the point. The letters carry no legal weight in a case in which the issue is how McCourt can pay his creditors, not whether he has alienated the Dodgers’ fan base.

“The Court well understands the right and motivation of fans to express their concerns for the baseball team they love and the Court respects their passion,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross wrote. “Nonetheless, it is not proper for the Court to docket fans’ letters.”

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-- Bill Shaikin