Family Law

Strange McCourt Divorce Case Gets Down to Brass Tacks, or at Least Staples

By ckramer

The very public and increasingly strange McCourt divorce case is starting to look like an episode of CSI.

Recently, the lawyer for Frank McCourt?the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers who is embroiled in a nasty divorce from wife Jamie?has won what ESPN calls ?a major victory? in the divorce proceedings. The victory was the result of science, allegations of deceit and a struggle for access to the lucrative Dodger franchise.

According to the article, forensic scientists from both sides in the case analyzed a document that has escalated the war of words in the divorce. They were searching the document for signs of tampering.

The document is a postnuptial marital property agreement that put the couple?s homes into Jamie?s name, from March of 2004. That fact is all that the two sides agree on about the document that they signed just before moving from Boston to Los Angeles to begin their life on the West coast.

Frank McCourt?s side has argued that the document, which consists of seven pages and two schedules on the back that divided up the couple?s assets, gave him control of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

Jamie, however, contended that she had never signed the document. And that is where the latest dispute in this tumultuous and public divorce case comes from. Jamie McCourt is fighting for some level of control of the baseball team, while Frank is working to deny her that access.

The physical documents were brought from a Boston law firm vault for analysis in court, and to be subjected to the eyes of the forensic scientists. Jamie McCourt?s legal representation claims that there are six copies of the prenuptial agreement, and that three of those didn?t include the schedule that divided up their assets and supposedly granted control of the Dodgers to Frank McCourt.

Instead, Jamie argues, three of the documents were signed at a different time than the initial three. Those are the ones that didn?t have the schedule on them, according to her side of the story.

And what is the main piece of evidence under scientific evaluation? It?s a staple.
According to Frank McCourt?s lawyer Stephen Susman, the documents that they found have the same staple holding them together that was used in 2004, at the time of the signing.

In what some consider the final blow to Jamie?s claim, there is also the imprint of her signature on a page of the document that clearly states that Frank McCourt is the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This latest piece of scientific detection could keep Jamie from gaining a 50 percent share of the Dodgers franchise.

?We?ve got the same staple and her signature on something she claims she never signed,? said Susman, ?which proves all along she was not telling the truth.?

Jamie still contends that the lawyer who drafted the document, Larry Silverstein, may have gone over a different draft with her than the one that Frank McCourt had signed.

This divorce case gave few signs that it would go away quietly, and if this latest dispute is any indication, gossip hounds can look forward to extra innings for the McCourts.

Full post as published by The Divorce Blog on July 19, 2010 (boomark / email).