Former NFL star Shawne Merriman has been named in a reported $4 million judgment over the death of Playboy casting associate Kimberly Fattorini, bringing a years-long legal battle back into the spotlight. According to TMZ, a Los Angeles judge entered the judgment October 5 against Merriman and three other defendants, following a jury's finding of liability in 2025.
The development comes more than nine years after Fattorini, 30, died in West Hollywood on July 21, 2017. Her death was ruled accidental, with the coroner identifying the combined effects of alcohol, cocaine and gamma-hydroxybutyrate, commonly known as GHB. Her parents subsequently challenged the circumstances surrounding her final hours through a wrongful death lawsuit.
Fattorini's parents, Deann and Ferdinand, filed their case in July 2019. Their complaint alleged that their daughter had been drugged without her knowledge and possibly assaulted after a night out, naming Merriman and others in a case that drew attention to the people and events surrounding her death. Merriman has denied wrongdoing.
Text messages became a central part of the family's allegations. According to reporting on the complaint, Fattorini sent a message to nightclub promoter Elias Wehbe suggesting that someone had put "G" into her drink, which her parents interpreted as a reference to GHB. Those exchanges helped underpin their challenge to the initial account of what happened that night.
The latest reporting names Wehbe, J.P. Castro and Monica Maass alongside Merriman in the $4 million judgment. TMZ also reports that the court ruled in favor of the nightclub defendants, including The Highlight Room, Tao Group and The Warwick, leaving those businesses without an obligation to pay damages under the ruling.
Merriman's representatives previously rejected the accusations, pointing to the police investigation and maintaining that he had done nothing wrong. Heavy reports that no criminal charges were filed against him in connection with Fattorini's death; the reported judgment arises from the family's civil lawsuit.
Fattorini's story had already attracted scrutiny beyond the courtroom. An ELLE investigation examined her death, the family's allegations and the Hollywood nightlife setting in which she spent her final evening. That reporting described a young casting associate and part-time model whose death left her parents questioning whether the initial explanation told the full story.
The October judgment marks a significant development in that prolonged dispute, although the report's publication does not establish that the money has been paid. Heavy reported that no public response from Merriman to the judgment had surfaced as of Monday morning.
