Widow of Seidler, deceased owner of Padres, disputes control of team
Sheel Seidler, wife of deceased San Diego Padres owner, sues brothers-in-law Matthew and Robert for control of the team, trying to prevent another brother, John, from taking control instead of her
The wife of the deceased owner of the San Diego Padres, Peter Seidler, Sheel Seidler, demanded on Monday at brothers-in-law Matthew and RobertYotrying to prevent another brother, John, take he equipment control instead of her.
The lawsuit comes as the Padres are among the teams recruiting Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki.
In a petition filed in Travis County Probate Court in Austin, Texas, Sheel Seidler sued Matthew, who became the executor of Peter Seidler’s will last year, and Robert, the previous executor. The woman alleges fiduciary breaches of trust, fraud, conversion and egregious acts of self-promotion.
The petition accused Robert’s wife, Alecia, of making “multiple racist, profane and hateful communications directed at Sheel — a woman of Indian descent.”
“Defendants’ actions to wrest control from the Fathers were carried out to force Sheel — a woman, a trespasser, and an Indian-American woman not of O’Malley descent — out of what Bob and Matt saw. as their family business and ancestral right,” the petition stated.
Sheel requested that Matthew be prohibited from acting on behalf of the Seidler trusts and that he be removed as trustee. He asked the court to quash any move to appoint someone other than Sheel as the person in charge of the Parents.
“I made this decision as a last resort, but I am confident that it is the right and best way to protect the Padres franchise and ensure that the vision Peter and I shared for the team continues,” Sheel said in a statement.
Peter Seidler, grandson of the late Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, was an investor in the group that took control of the Padres in 2012. He replaced Ron Fowler as the team’s control person on November 18, 2020. and passed away at age 63 on November 14, 2023. Three days later, the team appointed Eric Kutsenda, Peter Seidler’s business partner, as control person interim.
San Diego announced on December 21 that John will become the control person, a move that Major League Baseball owners have not yet approved.
“Matt has attempted to intimidate Sheel into silencing her, threatening her if she went public with her opposition to John’s unjustified nomination as control person.” said the petition.
San Diego, which has never won a World Series title, reduced the payroll of its Major League roster from a team-record $257 million in 2023 to $166 million at the start of the 2024 season.
“The emphasis in media reports on the Padres reducing salaries, lowering their expectations, and implicitly abandoning their complete pursuit of a World Series championship would have been a devastating blow to Peter,” the petition states.
The petition included a paper presumed to be handwritten by Peter Seidler that lists Sheel, followed by his children, as his preference for the team’s future controller. The petition quotes Matthew telling Sheel in a letter on Oct. 15 that she lacks “the experience, skills and financial knowledge necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of this important role.”
“Instead of appointing Sheel as the Parents’ controlling person — consistent with Peter’s stated preference and as the person whose interests are best aligned with the Seidler trusts — defendants are attempting to force the appointment of his brother John as the person of control of the Parents”. the petition alleged.
“By doing so, they are placing the Parents’ control and substantial interests in the Seidler trusts in the hands of a third party and enjoying the appearance and benefits of being the primary owners. “Meanwhile, the defendants have excluded Sheel from the Padres organization and deprived her of the benefits of being the largest beneficial owner of the baseball team, while they themselves enjoy those benefits,” he added.
The petition also states that Robert and Matthew “made it clear that Sheel and his children are not welcome in the owners’ box at the Padres’ stadium, Petco Park.”
“We do not comment on pending legal matters,” said Padres spokesman Craig Hughner.
MLB declined to comment.
