Back in February, Brett Favre sued Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe for defamation in connection with the Mississippi welfare-fraud scandal.
Last week, sports and betting lawyer Daniel Wallach reported that McAfee removed the defamation case from state court to federal court.
Shannon Sharpe liked that move so much that he decided to do it as well. He has now also moved his case from state to federal court, according to Pro Football Talk.
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk explained why this had to happen shortly after McAfee made the first move.
“It was the only play by McAfee, given that Favre is a Mississippi native, who lives in Lamar County,” Florio explained. “Home cooking exists in state courts, when it comes to defendants who don’t live in that state. For that reason, federal law allows cases filed in state court against out-of-state defendants to be removed to federal court (if the plaintiff is seeking more than $75,000), where the judges are appointed for life and not part of the local political scene.”
Favre filed defamation lawsuits against Sharpe and McAfee over comments made during their respective shows. Sharpe referred to Favre as a “sleazeball” during an episode of Undisputed. The hall of fame tight end accused Favre of knowingly stealing $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare funds.
“Every time his name gets brought up, we have to mention that he tied the hands of the poor people. And took money right out of their pockets,” McAfee said about Favre on The Pat McAfee Show.
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Florio also wrote, “Favre has the ability to try to send the case back to state court via a motion to remand.”
Brett Favre’s lawyer, Eric Herschmann, spoke out and stated the lawsuit against Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe is a sure thing.
“We think it’s a slam dunk,” Herschmann said, via Pro Football Talk.
“Pat McAfee keeps talking about it,” Herschmann said. “In all of my years as an attorney and being a prosecutor previously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a defendant build a case against themselves.
“His defense was, ‘Oh, I threw in the word ‘allegedly.’ But two things is; the things that we cite, he didn’t throw in the world ‘allegedly.’ And secondly, if he did any research or had a lawyer looking, that’s not really a defense.”
