Peter Seidler's family trust fires back at widow's lawsuit for control of Padres
01/06/2025 08:51 PM
Just hours after Sheel Seidler, widow of late San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, filed a lawsuit seeking control of the team, Peter’s family trust has responded, calling the suit “entirely without merit.”
“Peter had a clear estate plan,” read a statement released by the trust. “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.”
Compare that to the statement Sheel released on Monday after filing her lawsuit, in which she said Peter wanted her to take control of the team before eventually handing it down to the couple’s children. Her suit is against Peter’s brothers, Matt and Bob, with the hope of preventing their brother, John, from taking control of the team.
“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,” the trust’s statement continued. “She also stated in May 2024 that John Seidler, Peter's eldest brother, would be the best Control Person for the Padres.”
Sheel Seidler accuses in-laws of breach of fiduciary duty and fraud
The Peter Seidler family trust statement seems to directly contradict what Sheel alleged, both in her statement and in the lawsuit.
"For more than a decade, we put our heart and soul into its success, and those who saw our shared commitment up close know it was a true partnership every step of the way,” she wrote. “And so, as the holder of the largest individual ownership stake in the San Diego Padres, and the sole beneficiary of the Seidler Trusts, which possess exclusive rights with respect to control of the franchise, I am seeking to be named the control person for the Padres."
While the Seidler family trust argued in it statement that “John has the right experience and shares Peter's vision for the Padres,” Sheel’s lawsuit paints her late husband’s brothers as conspiring to keep her from assuming power.
She accused Bob and Matt of conspiring to sell Seidler Trust assets to themselves at "far-below-market prices” in order to "to solidify their control of the Padres." Sheel also claimed that Bob’s wife sent "racist, profane and hateful communications directed at Sheel—a woman of Indian descent—in communications."
She is seeking "actual and exemplary damages, attorneys fees and pre- and post-judgment interest," according to a report from Sportico.
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