Written by Barry Jackson at Miami Herald.com
Major League Baseball quietly has given the Miami Marlins $700,000 as a result of Jose Fernandez’s death in a Sept. 25 boating accident, and the Marlins this past week allocated all of that money to a trust for Fernandez’s three-month old daughter Penelope and to Jose’s mother, Maritza, according to industry sources.
MLB has a policy in which it gives a team $1 million if one of its players dies. But MLB’s insurance company that’s responsible for those payments initially balked at giving MLB (and thus, the Marlins) the $1 million because the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission concluded that Fernandez had been driving the boat at the time of the crash and had traces of cocaine in his system and a blood-alcohol level of .147, nearly twice the legal limit.
The insurance company and MLB instead recently negotiated a $700,000 payout.
Marlins president David Samson said he would not comment on anything relating to an insurance settlement but confirmed the Marlins and owner Jeffrey Loria made a significant contribution to the family this past weekend.
“The focus for us and Jeffrey is making sure Maritza and Penelope were taken care of in the aftermath of such an unimaginable tragedy,” Samson said. “To the extent that there were proceeds from any insurance policy for the benefit of the Marlins, there was never a doubt that Jeffrey and the Marlins would pass those proceeds directly to Penelope.”
Samson and two other Marlins officials on Saturday went to the Miami home of Maritza Fernandez and told her and Maria Arias – who was Jose Fernandez’s girlfriend and the mother of their child – that a trust was created and Samson would be the trustee.
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