Colorado football coach Deion Sanders often wears branded shirts that say, “I ain’t hard 2 find” for those who might seek his attention.
But his son Shilo is another story. He’s been very hard to find in recent months, according to those who have been trying serve him with civil papers to notify him of another lawsuit against him.
A process server tried to serve the papers at least five times at Shilo Sanders’ residence in Florida in June but never succeeded despite knocking on the door and calling the residence while cars were in the driveway.
One time on June 8, the process server called the residence
but was hung up on by a male who answered, according to court records in the case. Then when the process server went to the door and knocked, “there was no answer, no noise” even though packages of a food order sat on a porch for Shilo Sanders, according to court records filed in Texas.
Shilo Sanders, a former Colorado safety, became so elusive that the plaintiff in the case asked for a court hearing in Texas in November to find an alternative way to properly notify him of a lawsuit that accuses Sanders of owing $170,000 in unpaid legal bills related to his pending bankruptcy case.
He seemed almost impossible to track down until he showed up for his trial in bankruptcy court in Denver Aug. 31, where he finally got served, according to his father. Deion Sanders said on his weekly coach’s show Aug. 31 that Shilo Sanders was in “court right now” and “said he got served.”
The father laughed.
“I said, ‘How can you get served while you at court?” Deion Sanders asked.
Apparently it was the most certain way to finally find him.
Why Shilo Sanders could be found in court Aug. 31
His bankruptcy trial started Aug. 31 and lasted five days as Sanders, 26, tried to get out of his $12 million in debt to John Darjean, a former security guard at his school in Dallas. A verdict in the case isn’t expected until after Nov. 16, when final written arguments are due.
In the meantime, the law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP has been trying to serve him a lawsuit it filed against him in Texas state court in May. That lawsuit accuses him of owning $170,000 in unpaid bills related to its work on the bankruptcy case and a previous lawsuit filed by Darjean against Sanders in 2016. Darjean, 50, won that lawsuit in 2022 when the case went to trial and Shilo Sanders didn’t show up for it to defend himself from claims that Sanders assaulted Darjean and permanently injured him at school in 2015. The judge in that case found that Sanders "did in fact cause physical harm and injuries to John Darjean by assaulting him" and awarded Darjean an $11.89 million default judgment against Sanders.
In October 2023, Sanders then field for bankruptcy in an attempt to break free from the judgment. But Darjean is opposing his attempt to discharge the debt and testified against him in court while Sanders sat listening behind his attorneys in the court room.
He wasn’t hard to find there.
'GREETINGS: You have been sued.'
The court docket for the unpaid bills lawsuit in Texas now says Sanders was served Aug. 31. On Sept. 1, the docket noted “return of service” and an “executed citation” on Sanders.
A copy of the citation previously was filed in the Texas court and showed why Sanders had reason to avoid it.
“GREETINGS:” the citation says. “You have been sued. You may employ an attorney. If you or your attorney do not file a written answer with the clerk who issued this citation by 10 o'clock a.m. on the Monday next following the expiration of twenty days after you were served this citation and petition, a default judgment may be taken against you.”
The Texas case previously was filed in federal court, where the court ordered the plaintiff, Barnes & Thornburg, to demonstrate good cause for “failing to effect service” on Sanders. The plaintiff then abandoned the federal lawsuit to file it in state court in Dallas instead. In July, the plaintiff said in a court filing that Sanders "continues to avoid service."
This time they tracked him down, at court as a defendant in a different lawsuit.
In a related twist, on Aug. 11, Deion Sanders avoided getting served a subpoena to testify at his son’s bankruptcy trial when a Boulder County sheriff’s deputy showed up on campus with the subpoena but was told Sanders wasn’t available.
Sanders’ attorney then fought the subpoena, and Sanders avoided having to testify.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Process servers kept missing Shilo Sanders. Then he walked into court
