Dodgers lose bid to force documents from MLB

The team wants evidence to prove that league commissioner Bud Selig is hostile to owner Frank McCourt and holds the Dodgers to a different standard.

Delaware bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross, in hearing held by telephone on Thursday, said the team's requests were too broad for the issue at hand -- whether a proposed $150 million bankruptcy loan from a hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co was appropriate.

He also said a July 20 hearing on the loan should not turn "into a trial of the commissioner," though Gross indicated that the court may have to consider questions about the motivations and actions of the commissioner at some point.

The dispute stems from the Dodgers' fight with the league over financing the team's operations in bankruptcy, and with it the influence that could be exerted by the lender.