Major League Baseball owners on Thursday approved John Seidler, an older brother of late San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, as the Padres control person. The approval, which Sportico has confirmed was a unanimous vote and took place at a baseball owners’ meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., was made despite an intra-family dispute over a Seidler family trust—and whether John Seidler will take over as the trustee—that has spiraled into litigation.
As Sportico has reported, Sheel Kamal Seidler, the widow of Peter Seidler, sued two other Seidler brothers, Bob and Matt Seidler, claiming they breached fiduciary duties as trustees of the Seidler Trust, which controls the Padres. One of the trusts’ key assets is the principal ownership stake in the Padres.
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MLB’s approval of John Seidler indicates the league and owners are comfortable with him. The move could be interpreted by Sheel as MLB moving forward without her, despite her lawsuit and ongoing allegations against the Seidler brothers. She might surmise MLB wants her to stand down and for the Seidler family to find a way of settling their dispute out-of-court.
Sheel could also have the opposite reaction. She believes her brothers-in-law have unlawfully denied her the chance to be credibly considered as Padres control person, so she might assert that MLB approving John without providing her a credible chance to be considered is unfair and unnecessary, especially with her ongoing lawsuit.
Sheel stressed in a court filing last month that she “would be the first minority woman to serve as an MLB Control Person ever.” She also chastised Matt for allegedly touting John’s baseball acumen on grounds the brothers are related to famed Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley. Sheel said “the Seidler brothers believe that, as O’Malley male descendants, they somehow deserve control by virtue of their lineage, as if the Padres were a medieval duchy.”
Sheel also contrasted her brothers-in-law with her late husband, who she noted “was the only sibling to have an inter-faith and inter-racial marriage.” Peter, Sheel maintained, also celebrated the hiring and promotion of women to leadership positions with the Padres.
Whether Sheel Seidler would take legal action, such as petitioning for an injunction against MLB and the Padres to stop John from acting as control person, remains to be seen. Courts generally accord private associations broad deference in internal matters and in interpretation of their own rules and standards.
Also, challenging MLB and owners in court could make them less likely to consider Sheel as a potential control person. But the more Sheel can show she has been denied rights provided by MLB rules or the ordinary process afforded to other persons under MLB consideration for control-person recognition, the more plausible the grounds for continued legal action.
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