![]() This is not a business venture.”Ī spokesperson for Thiel declined to comment on Wednesday. In an interview with the New York Times in May 2016, Thiel said of his financing of Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker: “I would underscore that I don’t expect to make any money from this. In the wake of that settlement, Gawker's lead bankruptcy lawyer, Gregg Galardi, asked the judge for permission to investigate Thiel for financing litigation for the sole purpose of putting Gawker out of business. Last fall, Gawker - which declared bankruptcy and sold its assets to Univision after losing a lawsuit to Hogan - settled with the former professional wrestler for $31 million. In his opinion, Judge Bernstein partially sided with the administrator of the Gawker estate, arguing that he had “shown good cause for the Thiel-related discovery.” However, previous settlement agreements between the Gawker estate, Thiel, and Charles Harder - the lawyer who Thiel paid to represent Hogan in his invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker - ”impose substantial limitations” on what can be investigated, the judge said. In May 2016, Forbes revealed that Thiel, who despised Gawker for writing about his sexual orientation, had been secretly footing Hogan's legal bills. Hogan began his legal battle against Gawker Media in 2012, after the organization's flagship site published a sex tape of the wrestler and a friend's wife. Wednesday’s ruling was seen as one of the last puzzle pieces in a bizarre case that some experts believe will have lasting implications on the rights of the free press in the US. New York-based bankruptcy judge Stuart Bernstein submitted an opinion that potentially allows for the estate of Gawker Media to explore - with limited scope - how venture capitalist Peter Thiel secretly funded lawsuits on behalf of wrestler Hulk Hogan. Contact Laura C.The years-long legal saga involving a New York media company, a former professional wrestler, a sex tape, and a Silicon Valley billionaire appears to be moving forward, based on a US bankruptcy court ruling on Wednesday. Times staff researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. "Hulk Hogan's retirement will be comfortable," Denton wrote Wednesday. "I think the jury definitely got it right when they made that assessment."ĭenton no longer runs Gawker's former network of websites, but he has written about the case on his own personal website,. "If we consider this to be newsworthy," she said of the sex tape, "then basically the concept of newsworthiness would then lose all meaning. But Franks doesn't think the case will impact media companies with "journalistic standards." Some have raised concerns about the implications the Gawker case for the press and the First Amendment. "There wasn't financial capacity or probably the spirit to go on," she said. Mary Anne Franks, a University of Miami law professor who has written about the Gawker case, said she wasn't surprised to hear about the settlement. "The jury verdict might have been overruled, but on the other hand, had it not, that could have been detrimental for the news industry as a whole as to what is or is not newsworthy." ![]() "It may not be such a bad thing, because this was a risky case," he said. Gawker's defense told the jury that Bollea's lawsuit threatened the First Amendment and its protection of free speech. In 2012, Bollea sued Gawker in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court for violating his privacy after the New York gossip and news website posted a video of the retired wrestler having sex with the wife of his former best friend, Tampa DJ Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.ĭuring the two-week trial in March, Bollea's attorneys portrayed Gawker as a website run by writers who failed to consider the privacy rights of their subjects. The settlement won't be final until it's approved by a federal judge, however. In a statement, Bollea's attorney, David Houston, said "all parties have agreed it is time to move on." ![]() "Beautiful day at our beach brother," Bollea said in a tweet Wednesday. "It is a great day for Terry Bollea and a great day for everyone's right to privacy," Thiel said in a statement Wednesday. "The saga is over."ĭenton was referring to Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and one of the first investors in Facebook, who reportedly spent millions to fund Bollea's lawsuit - a revelation made weeks after Gawker lost the case. "After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached," former Gawker CEO Nick Denton wrote on a blog post Wednesday. ![]()
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