JACKSON, Madam. — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre claims a Mississippi judge wrongly… blocked his lead lawyer to represent him in a civil lawsuit in which he is trying to recover misspent social security benefits.
With the help of another of his attorneys, Favre filed an appeal Thursday with the Mississippi Supreme Court seeking to overturn Hinds County Judge Faye Peterson’s July 11 ruling.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services filed a civil lawsuit in 2022 against Favre and more than three dozen other individuals, groups and companies. The state auditor has said that welfare money meant to help some of the nation’s poorest residents was instead spent on projects promoted by the wealthy and well-connected, including a university volleyball arena backed by Favre.
Peterson wrote in her order that one of Favre’s New York attorneys, Daniel Koevary, had violated Mississippi’s rules of civil procedure by repeatedly demanding hearings “on matters unrelated to and not within the jurisdiction of this Court to decide.” Peterson also wrote that she considered the conduct “an attempt to sow discord.”
One of Favre’s Mississippi attorneys, Michael J. Bentley, wrote in the appeal Thursday that Peterson’s order causes irreparable harm.
“Neither Koevary nor other non-local attorneys have done anything wrong in representing Favre, much less anything that would warrant their being pushed aside and thereby impairing Favre’s rights and harming Favre by depriving him of the full services of the attorneys with the greatest institutional knowledge of the case,” Bentley wrote.
Mississippi State Auditor Shad White said in 2020 that Favre, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who lives in Mississippi, was wrongly fined $1.1 million in speaking fees from a nonprofit that disbursed welfare money with approval from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The welfare money was intended for a volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre agreed to lead fundraising efforts for the facility at his alma mater, where his daughter began playing on the volleyball team in 2017.
Favre paid back $500,000 to the state in May 2020 and $600,000 in October 2021, White said in a February court document that Favre still owes $729,790 because interest induced growth of the original amount he owed.
Favre faces no criminal charges. Former director of Mississippi Department of Human Services John Davis And others have confessed their guilt to the misuse of money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
White said more than $77 million in welfare benefits was wasted between 2016 and 2019, including $160,000 in drug rehabilitation for a former professional wrestler and thousands of dollars in airfare and hotel stays for Davis, who led the Department of Human Services during those years.