Mississippi
State Supreme Court won’t remove Favre from lawsuit
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court says it will not remove NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre as a defendant in a civil lawsuit that seeks to recover millions of dollars of misspent welfare money meant to help some of the poorest people in the United States.
A panel of three justices issued a brief ruling Wednesday, denying an appeal from Favre.
His attorneys said in written arguments in May that the Mississippi Department of Human Services is making “utterly meritless” legal arguments in suing the retired quarterback.
On April 24, Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson denied Favre’s request to be removed from the lawsuit, which has more than three dozen people or businesses as defendants. Favre asked the Supreme Court to overturn Peterson’s decision.
Millions of federal welfare dollars for low-income Mississippi residents were squandered on projects supported by wealthy or well-connected people from 2016 to 2019, prosecutors say.
The Department of Human Services’ lawsuit, filed in 2022, says money from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program was improperly spent, including on projects Favre supported: $5 million for a volleyball arena at the university he attended and where Favre’s daughter played the sport, and $1.7 million toward development of a concussion treatment drug.
No criminal charges have been brought against Favre, although a former department director and other people have pleaded guilty to their part in the misspending.
In their filing to the state Supreme Court, Favre’s attorneys argued that Department of Human Services officials and Nancy New, who directed a nonprofit organization with Human Services contracts, “concocted and carried out the scheme” to direct welfare money toward a volleyball center, and that Favre was not part of the effort.
Attorneys for the state responded that Favre took $1.1 million in TANF money from Nancy New “for speeches he never made.”
“Favre repaid that, but he has neither repaid the $1.7 million he arranged for his drug company, Prevacus, to receive in exchange for giving Nancy New stock, nor the $5 million he orchestrated the USM Athletic Department to receive for a volleyball facility,” the state attorneys wrote.
Favre’s attorneys argued the Department of Human Services is suing the NFL Hall of Famer to deflect from the department’s own role in allowing fraud, and they filed multiple sets of papers seeking to have him dismissed from the suit.
State attorneys wrote in March that Favre’s attorneys had given the court “a long press release” rather than legal arguments in trying to get him out of the lawsuit. The state attorneys wrote in May that the Mississippi Supreme Court does not grant appeals “based on whether a defendant is famous, or on speculations about the plaintiff’s motives, or on fact disputes.”
Wisconsin
Corn mill agrees to pay $940,000 to settle permit violations
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A milling company has agreed to pay $940,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging multiple violations at a plant that was the scene of a fatal explosion in 2017, state Justice Department officials announced Wednesday.
The agency sued Didion Milling Inc. in November 2020 alleging state inspectors discovered 30 violations that the company’s Cambria corn mill in 2019, including emissions, record-keeping and reporting violations. Didion spokesperson Scott Rippe didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the settlement.
The Justice Department asked the Legislature’s finance committee on Wednesday for permission to accept the settlement. Republicans passed a law in 2018 requiring the department to get the committee’s permission before settling any lawsuit as a way of diminishing Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul’s powers.
Five Didion employees were killed in a grain dust explosion at the mill in May 2017. Last year, a federal grand jury charged the company with fraud and conspiracy in connection with the explosion, alleging the company failed to keep up with cleanings at the plant and falsified records to make it appear as if the cleanings were completed. The company responded to the charges by insisting the explosion was an accident.
The case is set to go to trial in October.
Utah
District will pay $2 million to the family of a bullied Black girl who died by suicide
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah school district has agreed to pay $2 million to the family of a Black, autistic 10-year-old girl who killed herself after being harassed by her classmates.
The family of Isabella “Izzy” Tichenor blamed her death in 2021 on an inadequate response by school officials to reports that the girl was being bullied over her race and disabilities. The Davis School District announced the settlement on Tuesday.
The lawsuit said that Izzy, the only Black student in her class, was bullied by students at North Salt Lake’s Foxboro Elementary School by classmates who called her the N-word, told her she stank and made fun of her for being autistic. The family said they had reported the bullying to teachers and administrators, who hadn’t stopped the harrasment.
Tichenor’s death came weeks after the district, which educates 73,000 kids north of Salt Lake City and has a student body that is less than 1% Black, was reprimanded by the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to address widespread racial discrimination. It sparked widespread outrage, including from the Utah Jazz, whose then-star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell spoke out about how school officials should’ve done more to stop the racist bullying.
Utah lawmamkers passed legislation requiring districts to track reported bullying and racism in schools. Izzy’s mother, Brittany Tichenor-Cox, pointed to deep-rooted racism in the predominantly white state. The district initially defended its handling of bullying allegations, but launched an independent investigation after Tichenor’s death.
The investigation found “no direct evidence” of Tichenor being bullied specifically because of her race or disabilities but confirmed major parts of the family’s account, including that staff had mistreated Izzy. It recommended policy changes such as training to address and track bullying.
The $2 million amount was approved on Tuesday by a committee at the Utah Legislature that oversees settlements.
“The District is continually assessing and expanding its processes and efforts to better support every student who attends its schools, including implementing trauma- informed counseling and other resources for its students,” it said in a joint statement with the Tichenor-Cox family.
The district did not admit liability or negligence, or announce concrete policy changes. The statement said the district will continue to provide training “and is dedicated to creating environments to encourage open dialogue and discussions that promote mutual learning, respect and empathy, free from any undue pressure on individual students.”
The district also made a public apology Tuesday and announced a separate $200,000 settlement with three Black students who said they experienced daily discrimination.
“Any form of racism, bigotry, discrimination, or harassment within our schools is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The district encourages anyone who observes a student or staff member being harassed or bullied to report it right away. Reports of bullying will be thoroughly documented, addressed promptly, and appropriate consequences will be administered,” it said.
Georgia
Lawsuit accuses doctor of decapitating baby during delivery
ATLANTA (AP) — A doctor used too much force and decapitated a Georgia woman’s baby during delivery, according to a lawsuit attorneys said was filed Wednesday.
The baby’s mother and father, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., attended a news conference in Atlanta where their attorneys announced the lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross went on July 9 to have her son. Riverdale is about 13 miles (20 kilometers) south of Atlanta.
“They were so excited about the birth of their first child,” said attorney Cory Lynch. “Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center.”
Calls to St. Julian’s office went unanswered, and an email message was not immediately returned. The Associated Press was not able to determine whether she had an attorney.
Southern Regional said in statements it could not discuss treatment for particular patients due to privacy laws, but it denies the allegations against it. Its “heartfelt thoughts and prayers” were with Ross and Taylor and their care providers, it said.
“Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking,” the hospital said. It later added that St. Julian was not an employee of the hospital, and it had “taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation.”
A spokeswoman, Kimberly Golden-Benner, said the hospital could not elaborate. St. Julian is part of a health care group called Premier Women’s Obgyn that has two locations and offers circumcisions, infertility treatment and other services in addition to low- and high-risk obstetric care, according to its website. St. Julian is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, the website says.
According to the suit, the baby got stuck during delivery, but St. Julian delayed a surgical procedure and failed to seek help quickly. Instead, she applied “ridiculously excessive force” on the baby’s head and neck to try to deliver it, attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, said.
Roughly three hours passed before St. Julian took Ross, 20, for a cesarean section, according to the suit. By then, a fetal monitor had stopped registering a heartbeat.
The cesarean section removed the baby’s legs and body, but the head was delivered vaginally, according to Edmond.
The couple asked for a C-section earlier, when the baby still could have survived, but were denied, Edmond said.
He said the case highlighted the higher rates of infant and maternal mortality for Black women.
Ross and Taylor, 21, did not speak at Wednesday’s news conference. Their attorneys also accused Southern Regional staff of trying to cover up the decapitation by discouraging the couple from getting an autopsy, encouraging them to have their son cremated and wrapping and propping his body to make it appear the head was still attached.
The suit alleges gross negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified punitive damages.
