The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld a ruling made by a trial judge in the defamation lawsuit filed by Brett Favre against fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe. Last fall, the case was dismissed by a U.S. District Judge in Mississippi.
Favre sued Sharpe for what he said about Favre’s involvement in a Mississippi spending scandal during a 2022 episode of FS1’s Skip and Shannon: Undisputed. U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett had ruled last October that Sharpe was using “rhetorical hyperbole” in saying things such as Favre was “taking from the underserved,” that he “stole money from people that really needed that money” and that he stole “from the lowest of the low.”
In the new ruling, Judge Leslie H. Southwick said, “At the time Sharpe made the statements, the facts on which he was relying were publicly known, and Sharpe had a right to characterize those publicly known facts caustically and unfairly. Sharpe’s statements were his ‘strongly stated’ opinions ‘based on truthful established fact[s],’ and thus nonactionable.”
“'[O]pinion statements are actionable only if they clearly and unmistakably imply the allegation of undisclosed false and defamatory facts as the basis for the opinion,’” Southwick said, citing a 1984 Mississippi state court case. “This is because ‘nothing in life or our law guarantees a person immunity from occasional sharp criticism,’ and ‘no person avoids a few linguistic slings and arrows, many demonstrably unfair.’”
According to a story from Sportico, Favre can petition for a rehearing en banc but noted rehearing petitions are rarely granted. He could also attempt to take it to the Supreme Court, which only accepts 1-2% of petitions.
