As the Los Angeles Dodgers move to finalize the team’s record-setting $2 billion sale, a BigLaw firm seems to be preparing for a potential malpractice lawsuit by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

A partner at Bingham McCutchen drafted Frank and Jamie McCourt’s post-nuptial agreement in 2004, when the couple sought a divorce, Reuters reports. The post-nup should have said the Dodgers were “inclusive” of Frank McCourt’s separate property, but some documents used the word “exclusive” instead, according to Reuters.

A court battle ensued, and a judge invalidated the post-nup in 2010.

Because a judge invalidated the McCourts’ original post-nuptial agreement, the couple had to create a new settlement agreement in 2011.

In the new settlement, Frank McCourt agreed to pay Jaime about $131 million by April 30 to end her ownership claim in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Reuters reports. That money will likely come from the Dodgers’ pending $2 billion sale, which a court must still approve.

Granted, $131 million is paltry compared to $2 billion. But had the McCourts’ pre-nup been properly drafted – to say the Dodgers were Frank’s separate property – Frank McCourt likely would not have had to pay Jaime McCourt anything for her stake in the Dodgers, a malpractice lawyer told Reuters.

Anticipating a potential Frank McCourt malpractice lawsuit, lawyers for Bingham McCutchen took a strategic step: They asked a Massachusetts court last year for a declaratory judgment that it “met the standard of care” in preparing the McCourts’ post-nup, Reuters reports.

A judge, however, dismissed Bingham’s request, noting Frank McCourt has not yet filed a lawsuit.

“We continue to believe that Frank McCourt has suffered enormous damages as a result of Bingham’s malpractice, that require compensation,” Frank McCourt’s new lawyers told Reuters, though they did not say when a lawsuit would be filed. Lawyers for Bingham have declined to comment.

Related Resources:

  • Jamie McCourt’s Share: Baseball’s Worst Deal? (The Wall Street Journal)
  • LA Dodgers are Community Property, Jamie McCourt Co-Owns Team (FindLaw’s Tarnished Twenty)
  • Using a Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement (FindLaw)
  • The Enforceability of Postnuptial Agreements: Massachusetts Weighs In, Part One in a Two-Part Series of Columns on Postnuptial Agreements (FindLaw’s Writ)

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