Shawne Merriman’s Alleged Texts Resurface in Court Fight Over Playboy Model’s Death

Alleged messages involving former NFL star Shawne Merriman have returned to the spotlight as Kimberly Fattorini’s family contests an effort to reduce a $4 million wrongful-death judgment. The texts, described in court documents and obtained by TMZ, reportedly date to July 21, 2017—the day Fattorini died of an overdose. The messages are said to show an exchange between Merriman and nightclub promoter Elias Wehbe. According to the report, Wehbe told Merriman that Fattorini and two other women were at his home, then complained that they would not leave. He allegedly asked Merriman to have another man contact Fattorini and referred to someone becoming jealous. Fattorini’s parents filed the court papers as they oppose Wehbe’s attempt to lower the judgment. They argue that the messages bolster the jury’s conclusion in their civil case, which alleged that Wehbe helped arrange for their intoxicated daughter to leave his home with Merriman. The family sued Merriman and others over Fattorini’s 2017 death, alleging she had been drugged before suffering a fatal overdose. Her death was ruled accidental; alcohol, cocaine and GHB were found in her system, according to the report. A jury found Merriman and the other defendants liable, resulting in the $4 million judgment. Merriman has denied wrongdoing. The newly cited texts do not, on their own, settle the family’s challenge to the proposed reduction. But the filings have brought the reported exchanges from the day Fattorini died back into the legal dispute, offering a fresh glimpse of the conversations the family says matter to its case.