The spouse of late San Diego Padres proprietor Peter Seidler, Sheel Seidler, sued brothers-in-law Matthew and Robert on Monday, making an attempt to stop one other brother, John, from taking management of the crew somewhat than her.
The go well with comes at a time when the Padres are among the many groups recruiting Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki.
In a petition filed in Travis County Probate Courtroom in Austin, Texas, Sheel Seidler sued Matthew, who grew to become executor of Peter Seidler’s property final yr, and Robert, the prior executor. She claimed fiduciary breaches of belief, fraud, conversion and egregious acts of self-dealing.
The petition accused Robert’s spouse Alecia of constructing “multiple racist, profane and hateful communications directed at Sheel — a woman of lndian descent.”
“Defendants’ actions to wrest control of the Padres were undertaken to force Sheel — a women, an interloper and an Indian-American woman not of O’Malley descent — from what Bob and Matt saw as their family business and ancestral right,” the petition claimed.
Sheel requested that Matthew be enjoined from appearing on behalf of the Seidler trusts and be eliminated as trustee. She requested the court docket to void any actions to nominate anybody apart from Sheel because the Padres’ management individual.
“I made this decision as a very last resort, but I am confident it is the right one and the best way to protect the Padres franchise and ensure the vision that Peter and I shared for the team will continue,” Sheel mentioned in an announcement.
The Peter Seidler Belief issued an announcement calling the go well with “entirely without merit.”
“Peter had a clear estate plan,” the assertion mentioned. “The plan specifically named three of his nine siblings, with whom he had worked closely for many decades, as successor trustees of his trust and Peter himself prohibited Sheel from ever serving as trustee.”
Peter Seidler, a grandson of late Dodgers proprietor Walter O’Malley, was an investor within the group that took over the Padres in 2012. He changed Ron Fowler because the crew’s management individual on Nov. 18, 2020, and died at age 63 on Nov. 14, 2023. Three days later, the crew appointed Eric Kutsenda, a Peter Seidler enterprise accomplice, as interim management individual.
San Diego mentioned on Dec. 21 that John will grow to be the management individual, a transfer that Main League Baseball homeowners haven’t but accepted.
“Matt has attempted to intimidate Sheel into silence, threatening her if she were to make public her opposition to John’s unwarranted nomination as control person,” the petition mentioned.
San Diego, which has by no means received a World Collection title, decreased main league participant payroll from a crew report $257 million in 2023 to $166 million initially of the 2024 season.
“The emphasis in the press reports on the Padres cutting salary, lowering their expectations, and implicitly abandoning their all-out pursuit of a World Series championship would have been a gut-punch to Peter,” the petition mentioned.
The petition included a bit of paper presupposed to be in Peter Seidler’s handwriting itemizing Sheel adopted by their youngsters as his desire for future management individual. The petition quotes Matthew as telling Sheel in a letter final Oct. 15 that she lacks “the experience, skills and financial acumen necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of this important role.”
“Rather than appoint Sheel as Padres control person — consistent with Peter’s noted preference and as the person whose interests are best aligned with the Seidler trusts — defendants are attempting to force the appointment of their brother John as the Padres control person,” the petition alleged.
“By doing so, they are placing control of the Padres and the Seidler trusts’ substantial interests in the hands of a third party and enjoying the appearance and benefits of being principal owners. Meanwhile, defendants have frozen Sheel out of the Padres organization and deprived her of the benefits of being the largest beneficial owner of the baseball team, while themselves enjoying those benefits.”
The belief assertion mentioned “the trustee is exclusively responsible for designating the San Diego Padres’ next control person” and added “in 2020, in connection with Peter’s appointment as control person, Sheel agreed in a sworn document that she had no right to be or to designate the control person and that she would not interfere with the designated control person.”
She accused Matthew and Robert of making an attempt to promote the trusts’ pursuits in Seidler Kutsenda Administration Co. at under market worth after which rescinding the sale when the try grew to become recognized.
“Alecia made clear that Sheel was an outsider unworthy of being part of the Seidler family and that she was foolish to believe that the Seidler family would ever act in her best interests,” the petition alleged.
The petition additionally mentioned Robert and Matthew “made clear that Sheel and her children are not welcome in the owners’ box at the Padres’ stadium, Petco Park.”
MLB declined remark.
