The fight between State Auditor Shad White and Attorney General Lynn Fitch is on today at the Mississippi Supreme Court. Watch live at 1:30.
The State Auditor issued a demand for $828,000 upon the football legend in October 2021. The sum demanded included $600,000 in principal and $228,000 in interest. Mr. Favre paid $600,000. Mr. White's office sued Mr. Favre for the interest in November 2021.
Mr. Favre sued the State Auditor in Hinds County Circuit Court for defamation. Mr. White counterclaimed and included the $228,000 demand. General Fitch withdrew representation of Mr. White, claiming a conflict of interest. Mr. White had criticized the Attorney General in his book about the TANF scandal, Mississippi Swindle. General Fitch said the book created a conflict that could not be waived and got off the case.
The Attorney General claimed she alone had the right to pursue the clawback lawsuit and had instituted her own proceedings against Mr. Favre and the other TANF defendants. However, the Attorney General's lawsuit did not include the claim of $228,000 of interest and that is where the rub lies.
Mr. White pursued the claim in Hinds County Chancery Court, stating he had the authority to do so since the Attorney General declined to recover the interest.
General Fitch petitioned the Chancellor to issue a declaratory judgment against Mr. White's lawsuit:
30. Auditor White lacks statutory authority to prosecute suits pursuant to MISS. CODE ANN. § 7·7·211(g). At no time has the Attorney General declined to prosecute the Favre Demand under MISS. CODE ANN. § 7·7·21l(g), and MISS. CODE ANN. § 7·5·39 does not apply.(a) The Attorney General has the exclusive statutory authority to prosecute suits and manage litigation under MISS. CODE ANN.§§ 7-5-1 and 7-7-211(g);
Unfortunately for General Fitch, Chancellor Dewayne Thomas did not see things her way and ruled for the State Auditor. The Chimneyville Chancellor ruled:
6). This Court cannot agree. The plain statutory language of subsection (g) provides that the "State Auditor shall have the authority and it shall be his duty to institute suit" and that "the Attorney General shall prosecute the same". Therefore, the plain language of the statute vests the State Auditor with the authority and responsibility to begin a legal suit in these specific instances and further mandates that the Attorney General prosecute the same. Furthermore, Mississippi case law has consistently supported the authority of the State Auditor to institute and pursue litigation on behalf of the State under §7-7-211.
Showing no quit, the Attorney General pressed on as she appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Although briefs were submitted, General Fitch asked for oral arguments.
The Mississippi Supreme Court granted the Attorney General's request for today at 1:30.
25 comments:
You can't get material for campaign TikToks from a brief!
Fitch asked for oral arguments even though she is not competent enough to provide them.
I'm with Shad on this one.
It'd be crazy for me to sue someone to stop them from doing the job I won't or don't want to do.
If Lynn's truly lazy, she wouldn't fight this battle. I suspect it'll be difficult to shake the impression she's hiding or protecting someone/something.
It's gonna be on like a pot of neckbones!
Wiggins in the house!
Why aren't they there in person?
Lynn's boy is lready falling behind on 103.
30 days?
Ooops!
Claim splitting?
Ooops!
Not going so well for Fitch's crew...
I'm curious how they derive a number to bill for the interest. A $228K interest bill on a $600K principal seems really high, that's 38% of the principal amount. Not saying it's wrong, but it does fail the eye test.
They should just meet somewhere and fuck and get it over with.
Shoutout to any former deputy sheriffs what happen to be watching!
It's starting to look like a BAD decision she made!
When the justice asks:
"what I don't understand is..."
Not going well at all.
🔥 🔥 🤡 🤡 🔥 🔥
Shad White should be in jail.
The real question is why Fitch doesn’t want to hold Favre accountable for the interest, which is what the law says is due.
Political pissing contests paid for by the taxpayers.
Ewwwww!
I’m just sad that Chief Justice Randolph was sad that he couldn’t tell Shadrack and Lynn hello because they weren’t present at the argument :(
Smart move to avoid stepping on the flaming bag of dog poo in public!
@ 1:50 pm.. The original principal amount paid Favre for the speeches he never gave was 1.1 million. He paid back 500K in 2020 and 600k in 2021. Interest began running when he received the 1.1 million years prior, and the repayments don't stop the accrual of interest on interest, so to speak.
Some state employees wasting time and taxpayer dollars live texting from this useless hearing.
Looks like to me that Shad's group wants to do what's right, recover the money plus interest and Fitch wants to cover Bryant and Farve's ass'es.
It looks like the Mississippi Supreme Court is going to punt on the merits of this one and kick it out on jurisdictional grounds. Randolph was pretty adamant that the declaratory judgment action upon which this appeal is based was brought in the wrong court. He clearly thought it should have been brought in Hinds County Circuit Court and not Hinds County Chancery Court.
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