Phelps Secures Dismissal for Client Shannon Sharpe in Defamation Suit Brought by Brett Favre

After months of litigation, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi dismissed Brett Favre's defamation lawsuit against Phelps client and former NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, emphasizing that Sharpe's comments, made on the sports talk show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," were constitutionally protected hyperbolic speech and not grounds for defamation.

U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett noted that “[t]he context in which Sharpe’s remarks were made—including the tenor of the Broadcast as a whole, the format of the program and its audience, and the fact that viewers were told Favre was not charged with a crime—forecloses Favre’s claim that a reasonable viewer would have thought Sharpe was actually accusing him of committing ‘larceny.’ Because Sharpe’s comments are constitutionally protected rhetorical hyperbole using loose, figurative language, they cannot support a defamation claim as a matter of law.”  

The dismissal holds importance as it underscores the legal protection of expressive language and First Amendment jurisprudence involving free speech, as well as the limits and boundaries of defamation actions. The Phelps team was led by Mike Hurst, Mary Ellen Roy, Mark Fijman, Jim Shelson and Andrew Coffman.