Legal professionals for Brett Favre have requested a federal appeals court docket to revive a defamation lawsuit the previous NFL quarterback filed in opposition to a fellow Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame member, Shannon Sharpe, amid the backdrop of a Mississippi welfare scandal.
A federal decide in Mississippi threw out the lawsuit in October, saying Sharpe used constitutionally protected speech on a sports activities broadcast when he criticized Favre’s connection to the welfare misspending case.
Favre’s lawyer, Amit Vora, instructed an appeals court docket in New Orleans that the lawsuit must be revived, arguing that Sharpe accused Favre, who has not been charged with a criminal offense, of theft.
Sharpe mentioned throughout a September 2022 broadcast of the Fox Sports activities present Skip and Shannon: Undisputed that Favre was “taking from the underserved,” that he “stole cash from folks that basically wanted that cash” and that somebody must be a sorry particular person “to steal from the bottom of the low.”
“That’s precise defamation, as a result of that cheap listener is taking the phrase steal actually and never figuratively,” Vora mentioned.
Sharpe’s lawyer, Joseph Terry, instructed the judges that Sharpe’s remarks have been clearly an opinion supplied when he was requested a few information report on the Mississippi welfare scandal and the way the stories will have an effect on Favre’s legacy.
“If you happen to learn his feedback in context, it’s fairly clear that he was expressing his opinions rhetorically,” Terry mentioned.
The panel gave no indication when it might rule.
Mississippi state auditor Shad White has mentioned that from 2016 to 2019, the Mississippi Division of Human Companies misspent greater than $77 m from the Non permanent Help for Needy Households (TANF) program – funds meant to assist a few of the poorest folks within the U.S.
Amongst White’s findings was that Favre improperly obtained $1.1m in talking charges from a nonprofit group that spent TANF cash with approval from the Division of Human Companies. The cash was to go towards a $5m volleyball area on the College of Southern Mississippi, which he attended and the place his daughter was enjoying the game.
Favre has paid again $1.1m, however White mentioned in a February court docket submitting that the previous quarterback nonetheless owes $729,790 as a result of curiosity precipitated progress within the authentic quantity he owed.
Favre, who lives in Mississippi, has denied wrongdoing and isn’t dealing with legal prices. He’s amongst greater than three dozen folks or corporations being sued by the state Division of Human Companies.
US district decide Keith Starrett’s October ruling mentioned Sharpe’s remarks in regards to the case have been constitutionally protected “rhetorical hyperbole.”
“Right here, no cheap particular person listening to the Broadcast would suppose that Favre really went into the houses of poor folks and took their cash – that he dedicated the crime of theft/larceny in opposition to any explicit poor particular person in Mississippi,” Starrett wrote.
