Peter Seidler’s widow files lawsuit against Peter Seidler’s brother, seeking control of Padres

6:59 pm: The Peter Seidler Trust released a statement Monday evening (retweeted by Bill Shaykin of the Los Angeles Times ). It called Sher Seidler’s complaint “completely baseless.” The trust claimed that Peter Seidler had a “clear estate plan” naming his three brothers as successor trustees. The trust claimed that Peter Seidler “barred” his wife from becoming a trustee, while Sheil Seidler agreed in 2020 that “she had no authority to become or designate” a controller of the franchise.

The trust did not respond directly to Sher Seidler’s claims that Matt Seidler could seek to sell and relocate. However, Kevin Assi of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that sources around the league believe the idea of ​​the Padres leaving is “extremely far-fetched.”

2:31 pm: Last month, reports surfaced that the Padres would name John Seidler to take over as the club’s new controller, but that’s still awaiting approval from the league and there’s new development on that news. A report from Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams and Daniel Libit details a lawsuit filed by Peter’s widow, Sheel Seidler, in an attempt to gain control of the team. Scheer later issued a statement related to the story.

The question is how things have progressed since the death of Peter Seidler more than a year ago. Peter was part of the group that purchased the Padres in 2012. MLB teams are typically owned by multiple people, but each team has a designated controller who serves as the league’s liaison and votes on key matters.

During Peter’s ownership, the club gained a reputation for being extremely aggressive despite the relatively small size of the market. As Cote Baseball Contract data shows, until recently, the Padres had been one of the lower-spending clubs for most of this century. They crack the top ten in salary in 2021, then the top five in 2022, and the top three a year later.

This has led to a significant increase in fan engagement and results, with the club making the playoffs in three of the last five seasons. However, things were not all smooth sailing. In September 2023, there were reports that the club’s spending spree put it “out of compliance with MLB regulations on debt service ratios,” which would lead to a wage crunch. Peter suffered from many ongoing health problems and died less than two months later.

Shortly after Peter’s death, it was reported that a new controller had been decided. Eric Kutsenda, one of the co-founders of Seidler Equity Partners, holds the title for the time being. Just over a year later, the aforementioned reports last month suggested that Peter’s brother John would take over as controller. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Peter’s two brothers were mentioned: “As trustee of Peter’s trust, Peter’s youngest brother Matt is pleased to announce , Peter’s eldest brother, John Seidler, an accomplished entrepreneur and business executive, will become the Padres’ next controller, pending MLB approval, Seidler added. The family owns “believed to own 45% of the team.” These included Peter’s brother, widow, mother, and others.

Today’s lawsuit shows that the fractional ownership group doesn’t think alike. Sher’s lawsuit accuses Peter’s two brothers, Matt and Bob, of breaching their fiduciary duties as trustees of the Seidler Trust, Sportico reported. The suit alleges they conspired to sell themselves the trust assets at “well below market prices” as they “planned to consolidate control of the Padres.”

The suit also suggests the brothers were motivated by racial and gender discrimination in keeping the club out of Sher’s hands, saying Bob’s wife repeatedly “targeted Sher, an Indian-American woman,” in communications. Racist, profane and hateful exchanges were made, Scheer claims, with Peter ultimately wanting to pass the club on to his children and wanting her to act as the controlling one in the meantime, with the brothers now trying to “falsely portray themselves as Peter.” the true heir.” Evan Drellich of The Athletic paraphrased a portion of the lawsuit that states Matt hopes to “sell and perhaps relocate the team over Scheer’s strong objections.”

Schell is seeking damages, asking the Seidler Trust to deny compensation to the defendants, to invalidate any previous actions they had taken in connection with the Padres Controllers, and for Matt to be removed as trustee and for a receiver to take over the trust. .

“Earlier today,” Sher wrote in the statement, “I filed a lawsuit against Matthew Seidler and Robert Seidler to protect my family and continue Peter’s legacy.” She went on to say What the club means to the family and her desire to be appointed controller. “The indictment charges Matthew and Robert with breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. I urge anyone interested in the details to read the full complaint. This is not a decision I made lightly. I have made every effort to avoid unnecessary disruption and resolve the matter privately. I am focused on supporting the work of the many dedicated professionals within the Padres organization and the incredible players we have the privilege of watching nearly every day throughout the season. I made this decision as a last resort, however. I believe this is the right thing to do and the best way to protect the Padres and ensure that the vision that Peter and I share for the team will continue. She went on to express her hope that one day the team will be left to her and Peter’s children in the meantime. Hopefully this dispute will be resolved quickly.

Legal disputes over baseball clubs are not unprecedented. The recent failing health of Orioles owner Peter Angelos has led to his family filing multiple lawsuits against each other as they battle for control of the club. The lawsuits were eventually dropped and the club was sold to David Rubinstein.