Brian Giles will not be responsibile for the terms of an unsigned pre-nuptial agreeement, a jury announced Friday morning, ending the bitter he-said, she-said palimony case between the former Padres outfielder and his ex-girlfriend.
The jury reached its verdict Thursday evening, and judge Jeffrey Barton scheduled its reading for 8:30 a.m. Barton then delayed the reading in court because at least one juror was late.
Cheri Olvera sued Giles for $10 million over alleged physical abuse. Giles denied the allegations and countersued, saying Olvera abused him.
The jury ruled both sides committed domestic violence against each other but that no harm was done.
It was also ruled that Olvera must either return his engagement ring or pay him the ring's worth of $107,952.
"I'm just happy it's over with, from my kids' point of view," Giles said outside the courtroom. "They've been through enough ... They'll be happy dad can come home. Just be a regular dad and enjoy retirement now."
Olvera claimed Giles, an El Cajon native, agreed to financially provide for her and her daughter.
She testified last month that, eight months into their relationship, she and Giles discussed her future and Giles told her she and her daughter would have nothing to worry about.
“It was just, ‘You are going to be fine, Reagan is going to be fine; don't worry about it,’” Olvera said.
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Her attorney claimed this was a verbal contract. Giles and his defense team disagreed.
“There was a prenuptial agreement that was never signed on her behalf. Or my behalf,” Giles testified on March 30. “We never came to an agreement, so there was never an agreement on it.”
While Giles played for the Padres, the couple purchased a house in Del Mar with a groundskeeper, housekeeper, personal assistant and nanny. Olvera testified she had access to the couple’s joint bank account and “worked” for Giles.
Giles pointed out that he made all the payments for the credit cards and that the titles of all the home’s cars were in his name.
“I paid for everything for the five years that we were together,” Giles said.
Olvera testified her job was to “completely support him in every way.”
“When he was playing he did not want to be bothered at all,” she said. “Everyone knew you had to go through me first if you wanted to talk to him.”
Giles and Olvera were engaged and planned a wedding for Nov 17, 2007 when, two weeks before that date, Olvera received a pre-nuptial agreement and retained a lawyer to review it.
If she signed the papers, she testified, she would not have shared in any of Giles' MLB salary or ownership of their house. At the time, Giles was earning $9 million a year.
Per the proposed pre-nuptial, if the marriage was to dissolve, Olvera would receive $80,000 a year for four years and her daughter would have $10,000 a year for 10 years deposited into a college fund for a total of $100,000.
She countered by proposing $150,000 for the college fund and a 3-percent share in the home for every year married along with $80,000 for five years.
The couple could not agree on terms, and in February 2008, Olvera testified she moved into a home in Solana Beach for a trial separation. Once her daughter finished school in June 2008, Olvera moved out of both homes.
During cross-examination, Olvera testified she lived in nice homes, flew First Class everywhere, and spent thousands of dollars per month in clothes during her relationship with Giles. She also testified that her daughter was treated well by Giles and attended school at Santa Fe Christian.
Giles entered into a plea agreement in 2006 for a misdemeanor domestic violence charge involving Olvera at a Phoenix bar, according to court documents. The case was dropped in exchange for his completion of anger-management counseling.
