Kansas City Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice has failed to pay an agreed-upon settlement stemming from his 2024 car crash, according to a Dallas-based attorney who says that his client is owed more than $1 million but has not received that money on schedule.
Marc Lenahan, a lawyer who represents Dallas crash victim Kathryn Kuykendall, says the events following the March 2024 crash have been a “nightmare” for his client.
But that’s only been made worse, Lenahan said, with Rice not following through on his assurance of payment.
“Now it’s all up to Rashee, whether or not he wants to do right by anybody or he just wants to do right enough to minimize the damage to his career,” Lenahan told The Star on Thursday. “We still don’t know what his motivations are: If he’s trying to get out of trouble or if he’s trying to make things right.”
Rice was sentenced to five years of probation and 30 days in jail on Thursday in Dallas after pleading guilty to two third-degree felony charges relating to the high-speed collision.
Court documents also revealed Thursday that Rice settled a civil lawsuit with Kuykendall on April 5, agreeing to give her $1 million, along with an additional $86,000 in interest and attorney’s fees.
On July 7, however, Lenahan filed a breach of contract petition against Rice. Lenahan stated that after Kuykendall and Rice reached their mediated settlement agreement (which included a non-disparagement agreement involving Rice and the Chiefs), Rice had yet to make any payments.
The arrangement, Lenahan wrote, was for Rice to provide an initial payment of $500,000, followed by another $500,000 installment 30 days later. Lenahan wrote that just before the first deadline, he was notified that Rice “was unable to pay any of the money that he promised to pay.”
Although Kuykendall dropped the breach of payment claim the next week, Lenahan told The Star that his comments about Rice’s non-payment in the document still stand today.
“Instead of taking out a loan to pay the $1 million-plus settlement he reached with my client, he’s left her to struggle for more than a year already,” Lenahan said, “and it seems that he plans to let her struggle without payment for at least another year.”
The Star contacted the office of Rice’s lawyer, Royce West, on Thursday regarding Rice’s civil lawsuit payments but did not receive an immediate response.
In a statement released by West on Thursday, Rice perhaps referenced the civil cases against him when saying he would “continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole.”
West also held a news conference about Rice on Thursday, stating that his client had paid full medical restitution to the victims as part of his plea deal with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. A Dallas County news release said that amount totaled $115,481.91.
“That’s taking responsibility,” West said during the news conference, as recorded by Fox 4 News Dallas. “And any other responsibility that we need to take, he is willing to take also.”
When asked by a reporter specifically about the civil cases against Rice, West said, “There are civil lawsuits that we’re working on.”
In his breach of contract motion, Lenahan speculated about why Rice decided not to make payments on time.
One of Lenahan’s theories involved financial motivations. The stipulations of the deal require that 7.5% interest be added to any missed payments. However, according to Texas state law, interest is only accrued at the end of each year, and not every month.
Lenahan wrote that Rice potentially could have seen “that the interest rate that the Court could impose was less than what he would have to pay on a loan, so he decided it was cheaper to let his victim continue to suffer than to let a loan’s higher interest rate cut into the $60,000,000 contract he imagines being a year away.”
“Cynical, cruel, and grotesque,” Lenahan wrote. “But possible.”
Lenahan also wrote that Rice might not have asked anyone for a loan.
“Surely, somebody out there still believes in Rashee enough to provide him the loan if he asks,” Lenahan said. “The question is, does he believe in himself enough to ask?”
On Thursday, Rice — through his attorney West — expressed remorse in a statement regarding the car crash following his plea deal. Earlier police reports indicated Rice was driving 119 mph in his leased Lamborghini Urus SUV just seconds before his crash that caused a chain reaction on a Dallas highway.
Rice, who didn’t check on other victims and fled the scene on foot, initially faced eight charges.
“I am profoundly sorry for the physical damages to person and property,” Rice’s statement said, in part. “I fully apologize for the harm I caused to innocent drivers and their families.”
Lenahan said his client is still waiting for Rice to back up his words with actions.
“To his credit, Rashee keeps saying the right things. And those of us who were also once young and foolish hope that he means them,” Lenahan said. “But he’s not yet showing that he does.”