Additional context for the ongoing legal dispute between members of the Seidler family came to light Thursday.
A motion was filed in response to the lawsuit brought in Texas probate court last week by Sheel Seidler, the widow of San Diego Padres owner Peter Seidler, against two of her brothers-in-law. The motion, which was filed on behalf of Seidler Kutsenda Management Company, seeks to have some of the allegations in the lawsuit decided by an arbitrator. It also revealed that Seidler Kutsenda Management Company (SKMC) and one of its owners, Eric Kutsenda, had previously initiated arbitration for those claims.
In her lawsuit, Sheel Seidler accused Matt and Bob Seidler of breaches of fiduciary duty and fraud in their roles as trustees of Peter Seidler’s trusts, while also claiming that her late husband wished to make her the Padres’ control person. Matt Seidler disputed several of his sister-in-law’s allegations in a public letter after the lawsuit was filed.
Thursday’s motion does not mention the Padres or Sheel Seidler’s claim that she should be the team’s control person; the brothers’ responsive filing to the suit is expected later this month. But it effectively means that SKMC, which was not named as a defendant in Sheel Seidler’s lawsuit, wants to intervene in the litigation as an interested party, including by petitioning the court to compel arbitration to resolve claims relating to SKMC, the management company of Peter Seidler’s private equity firm. The motion said SKMC and Kutsenda, who cofounded that firm with Peter and Bob Seidler, initiated arbitration for those claims on Dec. 23. (Matt Seidler, the youngest of 10 siblings, is a partner at the firm.)
“Mrs. Seidler seeks to side-step the mandatory confidential arbitration agreements she is bound to and instead have these issues litigated publicly,” the motion read.
Sheel Seidler’s counsel responded to the motion in an email Thursday.
“The motion is another attempt to distract from the very serious allegations contained in the complaint and shield wrongdoing from public view,” one of her attorneys wrote.
Sheel Seidler’s complaint was filed only weeks before an expected vote by Major League Baseball owners on whether to approve another Seidler brother, John Seidler, as the Padres’ permanent control person. Kutsenda, a Padres minority owner, has served as interim control person since Peter Seidler died in November 2023.
(Photo: Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)
