Brett Favre remains a defendant in a massive lawsuit over millions of misspent welfare funds as a three-judge Mississippi Supreme Court panel denied his appeal petition.

Favre filed the appeal in May after the judge in the civil case brought by the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) declined to dismiss the Hall of Fame quarterback as one of the more than 40 defendants.

“After due consideration, the panel finds the petition for interlocutory appeal should be denied,” Mississippi Supreme Court Associate Justice James D. Maxwell II wrote in the one-page order filed on Wednesday.