Key Takeaways
- A judge ordered former NFL star Shawne Merriman, Elias Wehbe, J.P. Castro, and Monica Maass to pay a combined $4 million over the 2017 death of Playboy employee Kimberly Fattorini.
- Fattorini’s parents alleged that someone spiked her drink with GHB and delayed calling emergency services, while Merriman denied wrongdoing and called the lawsuit “baseless.”
- The coroner ruled Fattorini’s death an accidental overdose involving alcohol, cocaine, and GHB, and authorities never filed criminal charges.
Shawne Merriman is among four people ordered to pay a $4 million judgment over the death of Playboy employee Kimberly Fattorini, more than nine years after she died following a night out in Los Angeles.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, a judge entered the judgment on October 5 against the former NFL linebacker and three co-defendants. The order follows a 2025 jury verdict finding them liable in the wrongful death case brought by Fattorini’s parents, DeAnn and Ferdinand.
The award names Merriman, nightclub promoter Elias Wehbe, J.P. Castro and Monica Maass as responsible for the total $4 million judgment, which applies to all four defendants.
Fattorini, a 30-year-old casting associate for Playboy Plus, was found unresponsive at Maass’s West Hollywood apartment on July 21, 2017. Paramedics could not revive her, and the coroner ruled her death an accidental overdose involving alcohol, cocaine, and GHB. Her parents filed their lawsuit in 2019, challenging what happened before her death and how authorities investigated it.
According to the family’s account, Fattorini and Maass attended The Highlight Room’s grand opening before going to an after-party at Wehbe’s home, where Merriman and Castro joined them. The gathering eventually moved to Maass’s apartment. The parents also accused attendees of delaying a call to emergency services and questioned why investigators did not conduct a sexual assault examination.
Merriman became known to football fans as “Lights Out” during his run with the San Diego Chargers, who drafted him 12th overall in 2005. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year, earned three Pro Bowl selections and led the NFL with 17 sacks in 2006 before later playing for the Buffalo Bills.
The family’s lawsuit centered partly on a text Fattorini allegedly sent Wehbe during the gathering: “But Your friend just poor’d half G in my drink.” Her parents alleged that “G” referred to GHB and that her drink had been spiked without her consent.
They also alleged possible sexual assault, though Merriman denied any wrongdoing in the matter. “This alleged lawsuit is baseless,” his representative said in 2019, maintaining that police had investigated and found no wrongdoing by him.
No criminal charges were ever filed in the case.
