Report: Shilo Sanders being sued for more than $164,000 in unpaid bills, interest
Former Colorado Buffaloes defensive back and undrafted free agent Shilo Sanders is reported to be facing some legal trouble. According to a recent report, a law firm is now suing him for more than $164,000 in unpaid bills and interest.
The lawsuit was filed on November 17th by the firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP. In it, the firm is seeking payment for what it says Sanders owes the firm for prior legal services rendered. Those services are related to other legal issues that Sanders has faced, in particular, the personal injury lawsuit he faced in Dallas that eventually led to him filing for bankruptcy in October of 2023.
An employee wrote in a written declaration that the firm “delivered the legal services and incurred the costs reflected in the Invoices between May 1, 2024, and August 26, 2024, based on the Agreement. Mr. Sanders, however, failed to pay the amounts reflected in the Invoices presented to him, and has not tendered payment in response to Plaintiff’s efforts to obtain payment on the outstanding Invoices. The total of the Invoices that Mr. Sanders currently owes Plaintiff is $164,285.55, including $10,967.91 in interest for the services provided and costs incurred.”
In December of 2023, Sanders was forced to disclose just shy of $325,000 worth of assets thanks to his bankruptcy case. That case itself was related to an $11.89 million judgment against him, stemming from an assault when he was in high school.
As of April 2025, his father, the legendary Deion Sanders, noted that he had fulfilled all his legal obligations. That was amid what Deion would describe as “legal bull junk.”
In 2022, Shilo Sanders lost a judgment that stemmed from allegedly assaulting a security guard as a high schooler in 2015. In 2016, a suit was filed in Dallas District Court alleging that the security guard “sustained severe and permanent injuries including a broken neck, damage to his cervical spine, permanent neurological injuries and irreversible incontinence.” Sanders was accused of using his elbow and hitting the guard during the altercation.
In pretrial proceedings, Sanders, who was 15 at the time, claimed self-defense. However, he did not show up for the trial in 2022, leading to a default judgment against him.
Now, if this new legal filing is to be believed, Shilo Sanders is once again running into legal fallout from that incident. The firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP claims it provided legal services in connection to that case. In the complaint, it states that Sanders was informed the attorney who handled his case is moving to a new firm, and that he would remain responsible for any outstanding account balance, which led to Sanders ending his representation with the firm.
Coming out of Colorado, Sanders was an undrafted free agent who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, he was eventually waived and the most notable NFL moment he had was getting ejected and fined for throwing a punch in a preseason game.
