Shilo Sanders’ $11.89M Bankruptcy Trial Takes Dramatic Turn as Creditor Collapses

Shilo Sanders’ fight over an $11.89 million judgment took an unexpected turn when creditor John Darjean collapsed after more than two hours of testimony in a Denver bankruptcy courtroom.

The incident unfolded Thursday, September 3, during the fourth day of the Shilo Sanders bankruptcy trial. According to Complex, Darjean was taken from the courthouse by ambulance after collapsing in pain and was released from the hospital later that day.

Darjean, a former school security guard, holds an $11.89 million default judgment against Sanders stemming from a September 2015 confrontation at a Dallas-area school. The judgment was entered in Texas state court in 2022 after Sanders did not appear for trial, and Sanders later filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as collection efforts moved forward.

The two men continue to offer sharply different accounts of the original confrontation. Darjean has alleged that Sanders struck him and caused serious injuries, while Sanders testified that he “did nothing” to Darjean and maintains that the former security guard attacked and choked him during an attempt to take his phone.

Thursday’s proceedings also included testimony from former school administrator Ruda Nash James, who said she saw Darjean choking Sanders. Darjean’s attorney then played a recorded phone conversation from the day of the incident in which James said, “I didn’t see the neck part,” leaving the court to weigh the conflicting accounts.

The current proceeding is not retrying the amount of the Texas judgment. Instead, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Romero must decide whether the debt resulted from a “willful and malicious injury”, which could make the judgment nondischargeable under federal bankruptcy law; an earlier court order established the judgment’s effect as to causation and damages while leaving issues including willfulness, malicious injury and self-defense for resolution.

Deion Sanders had been subpoenaed in connection with the case, but Romero released him from having to testify after Thursday’s proceedings. The central question now remains whether Shilo Sanders can discharge the nearly $12 million obligation or whether Darjean’s judgment will survive the bankruptcy process.

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