Peter Seidler’s Widow Sues His Brothers for Control of Padres MLB Team

Sheel Kamal Seidler, the widow of late San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, is taking legal action to gain control of the MLB team.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Texas state probate court, Sheel Seidler claims that Bob and Matt Seidler, two of Peter’s brothers, breached their fiduciary duties as trustees of the Seidler Trust that controls the Padres. She claims that the two have, among other things, “irreconcilable conflicts of interest” and conspired to sell trust assets to themselves at “far-below-market prices,” as they “schemed to solidify their control of the Padres.”

Sheel Seidler claims that before his death in November 2023, Peter spoke of his desire to have his wife be the team’s control person, followed by their children. She says the brothers are trying to “falsely cast themselves as Peter’s true heirs,” and that as the sole beneficiary of the trust, she should control the team.

Filed in Travis County, the lawsuit also alleges multiple “racist, profane and hateful communications directed at Sheel—a woman of Indian descent—in communications” made by Bob Seidler’s wife. The lawsuit ascribes racist and sexist motivations on the behalf of Seidler’s two brothers, accusing them of seeking to “wrest control” of the ball club to prevent “an Indian-American woman” from taking what they “saw as their family business and ancestral right.”

Bob Seidler, as well as a lawyer identified in the lawsuit as his agent of record, did not immediately respond to emails sent by Sportico.

“The complaint filed by Sheel Seidler, the widow of Peter Seidler, is entirely without merit,” trustee Matt Seidler said in a statement shared by a spokesperson. “Peter had a clear estate plan. 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.”

The spokesperson wrote that “the trustee is exclusively responsible for designating the San Diego Padres’ next control person” and claimed that in 2020, “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 statement also directly addressed Sheel’s claims that John Seidler, the eldest brother of Peter, Bob and Matt, was being named Padres control person against her wishes. Through the spokesperson, Matt alleged Sheel said last May that John “would be the best control person for the Padres.”

(A day after this story was published, and roughly 24 hours after the above statement, Matt Seidler released a longer letter to Padres fans refuting Sheel’s claims, addressing the racist language and more.)

Sheel Seidler is asking the court to have Matt removed as the trustee and have a receivership take possession of the trust property. In addition, she is seeking both actual and exemplary damages, attorneys fees and pre- and post-judgment interest. She is also asking that the defendants be denied compensation from the Seidler Trusts and to void any of their previous actions taken as it relates to advancing the Padres’ control person.

Sheel Seidler addressed the lawsuit on Monday in a letter addressed to Padres fans. She called the complaint a “very last resort, but I am confident it is the right one.”

“I do not wish to litigate this matter in public, but rest assured I will do what it takes to protect my children, Peter’s legacy and this remarkable ball club,” she said in the letter, which she posted on social media.

The Padres are worth $2.03 billion, according to Sportico’s valuations. That’s 15th in MLB and 85th among all major U.S. leagues.

It’s not uncommon for family members to disagree over ownership once a control owner passes away. The Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos are among the many that have come up in just the last few years. Sportico wrote a series about estate planning two years ago.

According to the complaint, Peter Seidler’s four brothers “assured” the owner on his deathbed that they would act for the benefit of Sheel Seidler and her children. Sheel says in the complaint that the “promise was shown to be hollow.”

During Peter’s lifetime, Sheel says they frequently discussed team business, including daily operations, management hirings and free agent signings. She says she traveled to MLB owners’ meetings and often interfaced with player agents. Their kids were involved, too; when the team extended star third baseman Manny Machado in 2023, according to the lawsuit, Peter Seidler’s daughter Sadie participated in the contract signing and announcement. Seidler told Machado and Sadie that they would soon be business partners, Sheel says.

Since Peter’s death, however, the lawsuit alleges that Sheel and her children have been “effectively ostracized” from the team. Bob and Matt have “made clear” that they are not welcome in the owner’s box at Padres games, and have informed team employees that Sheel is not an owner and shouldn’t be interacting with current and prospective players, the lawsuit says.

The Seidler Trusts held a plurality stake in SKMC, SEP’s management company, the interest of which was supposed to pass along to Sheel through a marital trust. However, Sheel claims that after Peter’s death, Bob moved to sell the Seidler Trusts’ SKMC interest well below its fair-market value, by using “his fiduciary power and the fiction of a cash crunch.” This move, the lawsuit alleges, would have financially benefitted the brothers, who also had ownership stakes in SKMC, but at Sheel’s detriment.

The plan was ultimately scuttled, the lawsuit says, when Sheel and her attorney confronted Bob and Matt after being repeatedly denied information about the transaction. “When defendants realized they had been caught, they unilaterally purported to rescind the redemption agreement—a clear display of their consciousness of guilt,” the lawsuit states.

Following Peter’s death, Bob was the initial executor and successor trustee for six months before resigning in May 2024, leading Matt to become the second successor trustee this past June. He currently holds that position as well as successor executor of Peter’s estate.

In 1992, Peter Seidler founded the private equity firm Seidler Equity Partners (SEP), which Bob and Matt later joined. The firm currently manages $5 billion in assets, according to the lawsuit.

Sheel currently resides in Texas, while Bob and Matt live in Southern California.

(This story has been updated with Sheel Seidler’s letter to fans and a statement from trustee Matt Seidler. The final seven paragraphs of the story were added after publish to provide additional context.)