Ex-Bills Linebacker Faces $4 Million Judgment in Lawsuit Over Model’s Death

October 19, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

A former Bills linebacker faces a reported $4 million judgment in a lawsuit over a model's 2017 death reportedly by overdose. Getty

Former San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman has been ordered to pay $4 million in the 2017 overdose death of model and Playboy casting associate Kimberly Fattorini, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.

A Los Angeles judge entered the judgment Oct. 5 against Merriman, nightclub promoter Elias Wehbe, car dealer J.P. Castro and Monica Maass, more than nine years after Fattorini died. A jury found all four liable last year, awarding damages to her parents, DeAnn and Ferdinand Fattorini, according to the TMZ report published Monday. The judge ruled in favor of the nightclub defendants, including The Highlight Room, Tao Group and The Warwick, meaning that those businesses owe the family no payments.

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Merriman has flatly denied any involvement in Fattorini’s death, reportedly by drug overdose, and no criminal charges were ever filed against him in the case. The reported $4 million judgment is the result of a wrongful death civil lawsuit brought by the deceased model’s parents.

“This alleged lawsuit is baseless,” a Merriman representative told TMZ in 2019. The representative said Merriman had been at an after-party where “a young woman unfortunately overdosed,” and that police investigated the death and found no wrongdoing on his part. Prosecutors never filed criminal charges. No public response from Merriman to the judgment has surfaced as of Monday morning.

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Kimberly Fattorini’s Death and the Lawsuit

Fattorini died July 21, 2017, at the reported age of 30 in a West Hollywood apartment, according to LegalClarity‘s account of the case. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled the death accidental, citing a combination of alcohol, cocaine and gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, often referred to as a “date rape drug.” The Sheriff’s Department closed its investigation in September 2017.

She grew up in La Mirada, California, graduated with honors from La Mirada High School and earned a business administration and economics degree at Whittier College, which named her an Outstanding Student in 2009, according to an ELLE magazine investigation. She worked as a casting associate at Playboy Plus, modeled part time for Maxim and FHM Thailand and reportedly built a following of more than 150,000 on social media.

Her parents filed suit in July 2019, alleging Wehbe ran a system that recruited women for wealthy male guests and supplied drugs and alcohol.

“But Your friend just poor’d half G in my drink,” Fattorini wrote in a text to Wehbe, according to an investigative report by The Daily Beast‘s Tarpley Hitt. The complaint states that “G” is shorthand for GHB.

The suit alleged a witness saw Merriman carrying a bottle of liquid, and that he moved Fattorini’s body and left before paramedics arrived, according to LegalClarity. It sought damages for battery, negligence and a violation of California’s Drug Dealer Liability Act. The allegations have never been tested in a criminal trial.

Shawne Merriman’s Bankruptcy and NFL Earnings

Merriman filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in November 2018, listing $477,600 in assets and $787,177 in liabilities, according to a bankruptcy petition reviewed by The Blast. The filing triggered an automatic stay that halts most litigation against a debtor.

The Fattorinis sued without knowing about the petition, with the statute of limitations about to expire. The bankruptcy court annulled the stay retroactively, and the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel affirmed that decision July 13, 2020, according to case records published by vLex. The ruling cleared the way for trial, though no judgment can be enforced without a further bankruptcy court order and a separate proceeding on whether the debt can be discharged.

Merriman was born May 25, 1984, in Washington, D.C., according to Celebrity Net Worth player biography. He grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and endured stretches of homelessness, according to a Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame profile. He recorded 22 sacks in three seasons for the Terrapins and earned All-ACC honors in 2004. Maryland scheduled his Hall of Fame induction for Oct. 16, according to the profile.

The San Diego Chargers drafted Merriman 12th overall in 2005, and he won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He led the league with 17 sacks in 2006 and earned first-team All-Pro honors, according to a Sportskeeda recap of his playing career. Injuries followed, and he finished with 75 games across stints with the Chargers and Buffalo Bills, according to NFL.com career statistics for Merriman.

He played in 15 games for the Bills in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

Merriman earned $22,303,937 in the NFL, according to contract data compiled by Spotrac.