Mercedes-Benz has gone back to federal bankruptcy court and asked for permission to repossess Shilo Sanders’ 2023 car, saying he is again behind on payments and that the vehicle is losing value while the case sits under the automatic stay. The June 2, 2026 filing is the company’s second attempt since April 2025 to recover the same car.
The request matters now because Mercedes-Benz says Sanders, 26, was $9,169.56 behind, with the overdue amount covering February through May of 2026 on a vehicle with an outstanding balance of $72,155 and an estimated value of $75,900. Sanders filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2023 with more than $11 million in debt, which put creditor collection efforts on hold, but the car lender is telling the court that the contract is in default and that it should be allowed to liquidate its collateral before it falls further in value.
That is the same pressure point Mercedes-Benz raised last year, when a similar repossession move was resolved through payment and the car stayed put. This time, the company is saying the account is again in default and that the automatic stay is preventing it from taking the steps it believes are available to protect the car’s value. The filing adds another creditor dispute to a bankruptcy case already shaped by a separate fight over a far larger judgment.
Most of Sanders’ debt is tied to John Darjean, a former security guard at his school in Dallas, who sued him in 2016 after accusing him of assaulting and severely injuring him in 2015. A court entered a default judgment of $11.89 million in 2022 after Sanders did not appear for trial, and Sanders has disputed Darjean’s account, saying he acted in self-defense. Darjean now has a trial scheduled for Aug. 31.
For Sanders, the immediate question is whether this latest loan dispute ends the way the last one did, with arrears paid before the court rules, or whether Mercedes-Benz gets the bankruptcy judge’s permission to take the car back. Either way, the June 2 filing shows his bankruptcy protection is still being tested, one creditor at a time.
