MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and most other MLB execs will not have to be deposed, at least for now, in the Dodgers bankruptcy case following a discovery ruling Thursday in favor of the league. The Dodgers and Owner Frank McCourt sought a wide variety of documents and depositions from MLB they believed would show a pattern of abuse and animus on the part of Selig. But Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware agreed with MLB that most of the discovery requests were not material to the question of debtor-in-possession financing currently at issue in the case. "This clearly in my mind is not an appropriate occasion to turn this into a trial on the commissioner," Gross said. "On the issue of financing, the discovery seems to be not relevant." Gross, however, did acknowledge some of the broader issues the Dodgers are seeking to raise relative to Selig could arise at later points in the case. But should that be the case, MLB likely would have an opening to drill into what it views as mismanagement of the franchise by McCourt. "Doesn't the commissioner have to then present evidence that their action and their attitude was in fact appropriate given mismanagement and doesn't that open the door relating to the issue of mismanagement?" Gross asked Dodgers attorney Bruce Bennett. The Dodgers, meanwhile, said Thursday afternoon they still expect their preferred DIP financing from HighBridge Capital Management to be approved over MLB's alternate proposal. Gross will hold a July 20 hearing in Wilmington, Del., to rule on the interim financing (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
ARGUING THE CALL: In L.A., Bill Shaikin notes Gross at the July 20 hearing will determine whether McCourt "can use his own financing during the bankruptcy process." Gross "did not preclude McCourt and his attorneys from asking for those documents -- or asking to put Selig under oath -- later in the case." Bennett told Gross during Thursday's hearing that "to compel the team to accept a loan from MLB would be 'horrifyingly unfair' and that the requested documents could show that Selig does not treat other owners in the 'biased and hostile' way the commissioner treats McCourt." A source said that MLB is "not expected to try to seize the Dodgers before the July 20 hearing but could do so afterward." McCourt is scheduled for deposition next Wednesday (L.A. TIMES, 7/8).
