Jamie McCourt sues ex-husband over value of divorce settlement

Jamie McCourt, ex-wife of former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, has filed a motion to set aside the couple’s divorce settlement, claiming he committed fraud by vastly understating the team’s value.

Jamie McCourt’s attorney, Bertram Fields, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she “thought very long and very hard about whether to file this motion” but after other means failed she was forced to return to court over the value of the team that sold for $2 billion in May.

“Mr. McCourt got about 93% of the family assets, and Mrs. McCourt got about 7%,” Fields said in a phone interview. “We would’ve much preferred to have this massive imbalance resolved with some modification, but we got no response to that approach. We didn’t want to have more family litigation, but now it’s up to the court.”

The motion filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court claims Frank McCourt misrepresented the couple’s Dodgers assets as worth less than $300 million during their protracted divorce.

The pair’s marriage was dissolved in October 2010, and Jamie McCourt received $131 million. The new court papers claim that after the sale and subtraction of relevant debts, Frank McCourt’s assets turned out to be worth $1.7 billion, well over 10 times the amount Jamie McCourt received.

The Dodgers went into bankruptcy protection in June 2011, but Frank McCourt eventually sold the team in May of this year to a group for $2.15 billion, the highest figure ever paid for a pro sports franchise.

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Denver Broncos linebacker Joe Mays received a one-game suspension and a $50,000 fine from the NFL for the hit that dislodged Texans quarterback Matt Schaub’s helmet and took off a piece of his ear.

Mays will appeal the fine and suspension, a person familiar with the process told the Associated Press. According to NFL rules, the appeal will be heard and decided before Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders.

Mays drew a roughing-the-passer penalty for the third-quarter hit on Schaub, who left the field with blood flowing from his ear and missed one play before returning. Schaub threw for four touchdowns in Houston’s 31-25 win Sunday.

The NFL fined Mays $7,875 after Week 2 because Mays hit Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan late and in the head area after Ryan had slid to declare himself down. The play did not draw a penalty.

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North Carolina said basketball Coach Roy Williams’ surgically removed kidney tumor was not cancerous, though he will have a biopsy to ensure a second kidney tumor is also benign.

The school said tests have determined the tumor removed last week from Williams’ right kidney was an oncocytoma, which is a benign growth often indistinguishable from kidney cancer on X-rays that doesn’t spread like a cancerous tumor would.

Williams also has a tumor on his left kidney, but according to the school, doctors say there is “a good chance” that growth is the same as the one removed Sept. 19. Doctors plan to biopsy that tumor next week and won’t have to perform a second surgery if the tumor is also an oncocytoma.

Dr. Eric Wallen, who led the surgical team during the procedure, said last week that Williams, 62, should be back in plenty of time for the start of preseason practice on Oct. 13.

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NHL executives and representatives of the NHL Players’ Assn., who haven’t sat down for a full bargaining session in two weeks, are scheduled to meet on Friday in New York to discuss what is being called “non-core economic issues.”

That means they’re still unable to resolve the central dispute over the division of hockey-related revenues but will try to nibble around the edges and gain some traction on other issues. Those are expected to include pensions, medical plans, drug testing, scheduling — remember that the union blocked the league’s proposed realignment last season because of travel-related concerns — and the grievance process.

The season is still scheduled to open on Oct. 11 but that’s looking shakier by the day, especially if the two sides are putting aside the main economic disagreements to discuss these “non-core” issues.

— Helene Elliott

Clippers forward Matt Barnes pleaded no contest Tuesday to misdemeanor resisting and being an unlicensed driver after prosecutors opted not to charge the NBA player with the felony claimed in the arrest by Manhattan Beach police.

Barnes allegedly refused to cooperate and threatened an officer before he was arrested on suspicion of threatening a public official, a felony. But the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office opted to file a misdemeanor charge and would not elaborate on why it agreed to a deal on the lesser charge.

He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Burt Pines in Torrance to two years’ summary probation, ordered to complete 30 hours of community service and three months of counseling.

—Andrew Blankstein

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Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. settled some of their differences Tuesday when the world’s top two pound-for-pound boxers struck a deal for Pacquiao to drop the defamation lawsuit he filed in 2009 against Mayweather.

Pacquiao slapped Mayweather with the lawsuit when Mayweather accused the Filpino star of using performance-enhancing drugs.

A statement obtained by The Times and released by Mayweather Jr., his father and uncle/trainer Roger Mayweather said the men, “wish to make it clear that they never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance-enhancing drugs.

“Manny Pacquiao is a great champion and no one should construe any of our prior remarks as claiming that Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs.”

Unbeaten Mayweather Jr. previously laced into Pacquiao’s abilities in a video posted on the Internet in which he accused Pacquiao of using “power pellets.”

A source close to Pacquiao unauthorized to be identified due to a “strict confidentiality agreement,” told The Times, “Manny is happy to put this long ordeal behind him.”

The case appeared headed for some kind of resolution last week when the Nevada judge assigned to the defamation case ordered Mayweather Jr. to pay Pacquiao $114,000 in legal fees for failing to appear to answer questions at a scheduled deposition.

—Lance Pugmire