Brett Favre and New York Jets being sued
Brett Favre and the New York Jets are both being sued by two massage therapists who say that they were fired from the jobs with the Jets team after they made complaints about Favre sending them sexually suggestive texts in 2008.
Christina Scavo and Shannon O’Toole are demanding unspecified damages from the Jets, Favre, and a Jets massage coordinator for job discrimination and sexual harassment.
The two women did not say anything about receiving direct messages from Favre. Infact, Favre had referred to Scavo and a third unidentified masseuse in a message, proposing a meeting with them.
The lawsuit says that the message sent to the third therapist read, “Kinda lonely tonight. I guess I have bad intentions.”
Both the team and Favre’s agent did not wish to comment on the allegations.
Just five days before this lawsuit was filed, Favre was fined $50,000 by the National Football League for not cooperating with investigators in claims that the veteran quarterback sent racy photos and lewd messages, known as “sexting,” to Jenn Sterger, a
former game hostess for the Jets.
The investigation started in October 2010 and went on for almost three months while Favre just barely lived through his 20th and final season in the NFL.
There were also reports that Favre had harassed two massage therapists while with the Jets squad in 2008, but the league said that they were unable to move forward with the claims because people with “potentially relevant information” would not cooperate
or even be interviewed by investigators.
David Jaroslawicz, lawyer for Scavo and O’Toole, said that he told the investigators about all the information that the two women had.
The lawsuit says that Favre was given a massage by Scavo and another colleague, who wished to remain anonymous. He later sent the colleague a message saying “Brett here. You and crissy want to get together? I’m all alone.”
Jaroslawicz did not identify the masseuse who received the messages.
Scavo then told her husband, Joseph, about the messages, after which he told Favre to back off and apologise. He was brushed-off by Favre, after which his wife and O’Toole were rejected by the Jets and not called in for work, offering excuses such as having
had the training facility moved, according to the lawsuit.
Scavo and O’Toole are also suing the Jets massage coordinator, Lisa Ripi, who sent a series of e-mails to Scavo after the reports of sexting surfaced in the media. Although she called Favre a pervert, she also criticised Scavo for not keeping the matter
quiet.
"There are ways to handle things in a professional manner and ways to be compensated not in public... All this nonsense is unnecessary," Ripi wrote, according to the lawsuit. "For sure feel horrible that u had to go thru that w a pervert. ... He was wrong
on all counts...and we cldve helped u a lot more at that time."
Jaroslawicz said that his clients did not sue until they saw that the fine from the investigation was meagre compared to the acts that Favre committed.
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