Sacramento-area developer Phil Oates sued for wrongful death in fatal crash
.jpg "Patrick S. Mulderrig, shown with his wife, Miranda Flores, was killed in a motorcycle collision that involved Sacramento Kings minority owner Phil Oates.")
A Folsom woman filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against prominent local businessman Phil Oates, saying the real estate magnate and Sacramento Kings owner caused her husband to lose his life in a traffic collision in May of last year.
Miranda Flores said in her complaint that her husband, Patrick Mulderrig, was driving his beloved red Harley Davidson motorcycle west on Douglas Boulevard in Granite Bay last May, when Oates, driving a Cadillac in the opposite direction, turned left in front of him.
Mulderrig, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, slammed into the Cadillac and was flung off of his motorcycle, a police report provided by Flores showed.
The officer at the scene, identified in the report as M. Zerfas, said that Oates was responsible because he had made an unsafe left turn that did not leave Mulderrig enough room to stop or go around him, the report shows.
Mulderrig died later that night.
Oates, chairman of the real estate company Buzz Oates and the son of its founder, remained on the scene and cooperated with investigators, the report shows. He had his turn signal on and believed he had enough time to turn left before the approaching motorcycle reached the intersection, the report said. A sobriety test administered at the scene showed that no alcohol was present, Zerfas wrote in his report. “Mr. Oates was not under the influence of any drug or alcohol at the time of this crash,” the officer wrote.
On Wednesday, Oates released a statement about the collision and the lawsuit through his attorney, Tom Johnson.
“Mr. Oates is deeply saddened by the passing of the other driver in the accident,” Johnson told The Sacramento Bee by telephone. “He trusts that the court system will reach a just result.”
Oates was not cited on the day of the collision, but the police report shows that the case was referred to the Placer County District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution for vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.
On Tuesday, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Lisa Botwinik confirmed that her office had received reports detailing the collision and Mulderrig’s death in June of 2024. But she said that prosecutors would not have been able to prove criminal conduct beyond a reasonable doubt.
“After reviewing the facts and evidence in the case, the District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges,” Botwinik said in an email to The Sacramento Bee. “Although the case was referred to this office to consider misdemeanor manslaughter charges, the investigation produced insufficient evidence that Mr. Mulderrig’s death was the product of a criminal act.”
Flores’ attorney, Roger Dreyer, said the widow learned last week that District Attorney Morgan Briggs Gire had decided not to prosecute. He questioned the office’s explanation for its decision.
“Someone was killed and a prominent individual in our community is not being prosecuted,” Dreyer said. “If I were reading your newspaper I would want to know why.”
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages to compensate Flores for the loss of her husband, funeral and health care costs, and also for the suffering experienced by Mulderrig as he lay dying.
More than the money, Dreyer said, Flores wants to hold Oates accountable.
Oates’ company, Buzz Oates, says on its website that it is one of the largest privately held commercial real estate management companies in the country, with operations in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana.
Oates hosts the Phil Oates Celebrity Golf Classic, which donates proceeds to local charities and schools including Jesuit High School in Carmichael and Destiny Christian Academy in Sacramento.
The case is set for a case management conference in August.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 2:07 PM.
