Sheel Seidler, the widow of San Diego Padres chairman Peter Seidler, sued two of his brothers Monday in an try to turn out to be the group’s management individual.
In a criticism filed in Texas probate court docket, Sheel Seidler claims she and her three kids have been “successfully ostracized” from the group since Peter Seidler’s death 14 months in the past. The swimsuit names Robert and Matthew Seidler as defendants, accusing the brothers of “fiduciary breaches of belief, fraud, conversion and egregious acts of self-dealing” of their roles as trustees and executors of Peter Seidler’s property.
The Padres introduced Dec. 21 that Peter’s oldest brother, John Seidler, would turn out to be the group’s management individual, which Sheel opposed and claims went towards her late husband’s needs.
In a letter to followers, Sheel referred to as her criticism “a really final resort” to “shield my household and to proceed to hold out Peter’s legacy.”
“[A]s the holder of the biggest particular person possession stake within the San Diego Padres, and the only real beneficiary of the Seidler Trusts, which possesses unique rights with respect to regulate of the franchise, I’m looking for to be named the management individual for the Padres,” Sheel Seidler wrote as a part of her letter.
A press release from a spokesperson for the Peter Seidler Trust, which controls the Padres, referred to as Sheel’s criticism “fully with out advantage.”
“Peter had a transparent property plan,” the assertion continued. “The plan particularly named three of his 9 siblings, with whom he had labored intently for a lot of many years, as successor trustees of his belief and Peter himself prohibited Sheel from ever serving as trustee. The trustee is completely chargeable for designating the San Diego Padres’ subsequent management individual.”
The assertion alleged that Sheel agreed in a sworn doc that she had “no proper to be or to designate the management individual and that she wouldn’t intervene with the designated management individual. The assertion additionally alleges that Sheel acknowledged in May 2024 that John Seidler “can be the most effective management individual for the Padres.”
Peter Seidler, a two-time most cancers survivor, died from issues of an an infection on Nov. 14, 2023, abandoning Sheel and their kids, now ages 4, 9 and 11. Eric Kutsenda, a longtime buddy and enterprise accomplice, was named interim management individual earlier than basically turning over duties to John Seidler 13 months later.
Sheel Seidler’s criticism claims assurances from Peter’s brothers that they might act for the advantage of Sheel and the youngsters have “proven to be hole” within the wake of his demise.
Matthew and Robert Seidler “not solely disregarded the clear phrases and function of the desire and belief instrument that Peter created, however in addition they have deliberately schemed to take for themselves the property and Seidler trusts’ worth rights and property,” the criticism reads. “They have accomplished so by deceptive Sheel, participating in conflicted transactions and egregious acts of self-dealing, and when Sheel started expressing concern and questioning their actions, they responded by demeaning and making an attempt to intimidate her — together with through the use of belief property to pay attorneys to threaten her into submission and silence.”
“They are attempting to erase Peter’s imaginative and prescient and legacy,” one other a part of the criticism reads, “in addition to falsely forged themselves as Peter’s true heirs.”
Under Peter Seidler, the Padres turned a monetary juggernaut, signing and retaining stars and inserting the membership alongside massive spenders such because the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Fans rallied across the group, setting attendance data at Petco Park.
Peter Seidler, grandson of outstanding former Dodgers proprietor Walter O’Malley, was a part of a gaggle that bought the Padres in 2012 and assumed the position of chairman eight years later, changing into the group’s largest stakeholder. The pinnacle of Peter’s possession tenure arrived in October 2022 when the Padres defeated the rival Dodgers — as soon as deemed by Peter as “the dragon up the freeway that we’re making an attempt to slay” — within the National League Division Series, earlier than being eradicated the next spherical.
In the primary offseason after Seidler’s demise, the Padres, who by that time had misplaced their native media contract by means of Diamond Sports Group’s chapter proceedings, decreased payroll by about one-third.
Padres normal supervisor A.J. Preller nonetheless fielded a aggressive group in 2024 that gained 93 video games, made the playoffs for the third time in 5 years and nearly defeated the Dodgers within the NLDS as soon as once more.
Seidler usually expressed his hope to deliver San Diego, a metropolis that misplaced its NFL group, its first championship. Sheel Seidler believes she is the one that may also help deliver that dream to fruition.
“While the youngsters and I really feel Peter’s absence on daily basis, our collective devotion to this group is stronger than ever,” Sheel Seidler wrote. “Peter and I all the time deliberate, in the future, to depart the group to the youngsters. That stays my steadfast dedication. In the meantime, it’s my intention to construct upon the various current successes, investing in each the short-term and long-term way forward for the franchise, and guaranteeing our dream of a number of championships is fulfilled.”
John Seidler’s appointment as management individual remains to be pending the approval of three-quarters of MLB’s homeowners. A vote hasn’t been scheduled however may happen as early because the upcoming homeowners conferences in February.
Sheel Seidler’s criticism alleges that she and her three kids should not welcomed on the possession suite throughout video games and that Robert and Matthew Seidler have gone so far as to “inform Padres workers that Sheel isn’t an proprietor of the group, and that her presence and enter should not welcome in interacting with free brokers and present gamers.”
Sheel Seidler additionally claims to have been excluded from charitable occasions meant to mark Peter Seidler’s legacy.
The criticism consists of what is claimed to be a handwritten notice from Peter Seidler, itemizing the priorities for management individual within the occasion of his demise, with Sheel and the youngsters on the high.
Sheel Seidler and the youngsters personal roughly one-quarter of the Padres, fulfilling MLB’s requirement of at the very least a 15% stake to qualify as a management individual. But Matthew and Robert Seidler have “frozen Sheel out,” in response to the criticism, and “disadvantaged her of the advantages of being the biggest helpful proprietor of the baseball group, whereas themselves having fun with the advantages.”
The assertion from the Seidler belief lauded John Seidler as somebody who “has the proper expertise and shares Peter’s imaginative and prescient for the Padres: guarantee there’s a constantly aggressive group on the sphere and a best-in-class fan expertise, with the objective of bringing championship-caliber baseball to San Diego.”
