By admin A Placer County jury on Monday awarded nearly $16 million to the widow of a retired CHP officer who died in a motorcycle collision with developer and minority Sacramento Kings owner Phil Oates on a suburban street in 2024.
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The unanimous award was four times the amount suggested by Oates’ attorney, but a fraction of the $45 million Miranda Flores had sought for the loss of her husband, Patrick Mulderrig, whom she described as the love of her life.
Outside Placer County’s historic courthouse in Auburn, Flores hugged a juror before speaking publicly for the first time about her case against one of the region’s leading businessmen.
“I’m happy the jury is holding the responsible party accountable,” she said. “I’ll miss Patrick until the day I die.”
Oates, 75, was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and was not cited or charged with any crime in connection with the traffic collision that killed Mulderrig on a sunny early evening in 2024.
The chairman of the Buzz Oates, the commercial real estate firm founded by his father, was making a left-hand turn from Douglas Boulevard in Granite Bay onto Kingsgate Drive on his way home from a trip to a nearby Carl’s Jr., restaurant. He testified in court that he did not initially see Mulderrig approach from the opposite direction on Douglas Boulevard until it was too late.
He sped up to try to get out of the motorcyclist’s way, but they both moved into the same lane, leading Mulderrig’s red Harley-Davidson Sportster to crash into the rear passenger side of Oates’ Cadillac, spinning it around 180 degrees and launching the former CHP communications officer into the air.
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Mulderrig, 60, hit the ground about 15 feet away from the Cadillac and never woke up. He died five hours later at a Roseville hospital.
Flores, then 41, was considerably younger than Mulderrig. The couple met when she was 21 and working in security at the Capitol. He was 39. Losing him meant losing the person she’d been connected to for essentially all of her adult life.
“Now I feel like just a piece of a person,” she said Monday. “I wake up and try my best to breathe and pretend like I am living, because I know he would want me to be ok.”
At the crash scene, CHP officer Michael Zerfas wrote in his report that Oates was responsible for the incident, because he had turned left in front of Mulderrig. Zerfas referred the incident to Placer County District Attorney Morgan Briggs Gire for possible prosecution as misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, with no gross negligence involved.
Gire’s office decided not to bring charges, saying there was no evidence of a criminal act. Flores, bereft and angry, rejected the settlement offered by Oates’ insurance company and filed a wrongful death suit against the developer.
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This is a developing story; check back with sacbee.com for updates.
This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 2:07 PM.