Judge tosses McCourts' marital agreement

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LOS ANGELES, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A judge Tuesday threw out a marital agreement Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt contended gave him sole ownership of the baseball club.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon ruled the 2004 marital property agreement was insufficient to back Frank McCourt's claim his wife Jamie wasn't entitled to an ownership stake in the Dodgers as part of their divorce, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Gordon made the ruling more than two months after an 11-day trial during which Jamie McCourt argued she didn't know that by signing the agreement she'd be surrendering her rights to the team.

"The court finds that the marital property agreement is not a valid and enforceable agreement," Gordon wrote.

The ruling leaves the Dodgers' ownership picture murky. Frank McCourt's lawyers said Tuesday they would try a different legal strategy to establish his sole ownership.

But David Boies, an attorney for Jamie McCourt, told the Times the ruling should spur her husband to "sell the Dodgers, either to her or to somebody else" in order to provide her with a settlement worth half of their marital estate.