The lawyer representing CU Buffs head football coach Deion Sanders filed a motion on Thursday to quash a subpoena that would require Sanders to testify at his son’s bankruptcy trial that begins Aug. 31.
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Sanders’ attorney, Harvey Steinberg, moved to dismiss the subpoena and requested a protective order to prevent future attempts to call Sanders to testify, court records show. Sanders was subpoenaed to testify at his son Shilo’s bankruptcy trial, which begins the same week as the Buffs’ season opener at Georgia Tech.
Shilo Sanders is the subject of an ongoing bankruptcy case after he filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and now hopes to discharge more than $11 million in debt, which is owed to a former school security guard named John Darjean. Darjean claimed Shilo Sanders assaulted him at a school in Dallas in 2015, when Shilo Sanders was 15 years old, and caused him permanent injuries. Darjean sued and won a $11.89 million default judgment in Texas in 2022 when Shilo Sanders neglected to show up in court. The trial, set to begin on Aug. 31 in Denver, will determine whether he’ll still be required to pay the debt.
Darjean’s attorneys issued the subpoena calling for Deion Sanders to testify on June 15. On Aug. 12, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office visited the UCHealth Champions Center on campus to serve Deion Sanders the subpoena, according to court records. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office deputy reported that they were unable to complete the service because they were unable to “gain access into secure area of CU,” records show.
Steinberg, Deion Sanders’ lawyer, then contacted the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and agreed to accept the subpoena on Sanders’ behalf. Darjean’s lawyers emailed Steinberg the subpoena on Aug. 13, according to court records. On Tuesday, Steinberg responded via email that “acceptance of the subpoena is now moot” because the judge in the case “has stated that Mr. Sanders’ testimony would be irrelevant.”
“However, should the Judge rule and determine that Mr. Sanders’ testimony has become relevant, we have agreed that Mr. Sanders will make himself available to appear virtually for any testimony,” Steinberg wrote in a letter emailed to Darjean’s attorneys on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Steinberg moved to quash, or dismiss, the subpoena, and said it was never officially served or accepted by Deion Sanders or his legal representation. That contradicts records filed by Darjean’s lawyers, which show that their position is that the subpoena was accepted.
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The motion to quash requests that the court find that Deion Sanders was not served with the subpoena. It asks the court to “enter a protective order to prevent further attempts to harass, embarrass, humiliate, and otherwise impose undue burden upon Mr. Sanders, a nonparty,” by prohibiting future subpoenas or requiring appropriate steps to reduce the burden if he is required to testify. Finally, the motion requests that the court order fees to sanction Darjean’s lawyers for “improper and sanctionable conduct, and for affirmatively misrepresenting facts to the Court,” according to the motion.
At an Aug. 14 pretrial hearing, the judge in the case said that the testimony and evidence allowed during the trial would be highly limited to the day of the incident. Because of that, Steinberg said in the motion that Deion Sanders “does not possess any information that is relevant or admissible” in the case.
Additionally, there’s a requirement in the subpoena, he said, which would require Deion Sanders to sit outside the courtroom for an unknown period of time to potentially provide testimony at some point during the five-day trial, which would “cause undue burden” on him in his professional life. Darjean’s lawyers have not indicated which day and time Deion Sanders might be called to testify, or for how long, according to the motion.
“Common sense dictates that Mr. Sanders’ absence from sitting outside the courtroom to await potential testimony will cause him significant and undue personal and professional burdens, and that such a requirement will also significantly impact the CU Buffaloes’ preparation for their season opener,” the motion read.
The CU Buffs play their season opener at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3. The trial will be held in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado in Denver and is scheduled to run from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4.
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