Hulk Hogan Settles With Gawker For $31 Million (go.com)

Gawker Media, which filed for bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit brought by the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, has settled the case. The settlement, which court documents indicate is for $31 million, comes less than eight months after a jury awarded Mr. Hogan $140 million in damages in an invasion of privacy case lawsuit over Gawker's publication of a video that showed Hogan having sex with a friend's wife. From a report on ABC: Settlement documents filed at a New York federal bankruptcy court stipulate that Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, will get $31 million plus share with other creditors 45 percent of any additional funds that come into the bankruptcy court by virtue of third-party claims brought by Gawker. Hogan's camp said in a statement: "After almost five years of litigation all parties agreed it was time to resolve this matter. This will allow people to go about their lives and concentrate on things more important than continued court proceedings. As in any case involving negotiation all parties give-and-take. We would like to thank everyone involved in the process." In a blog post on the settlement, Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media, wrote: "After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached. The saga is over."

Comments

Re:Poor Nick Denton

[interkin3tic]

Yes, tell yourself this was all about one particular asshole and there's no collateral damage possible to freedom of the press or freedom of speech. The only websites and news organizations that will get sued into oblivion because the oligarchs have a grudge against them will be ones run by assholes and that never do any useful reporting.

/s

Since sarcasm may be lost on you, Hulk hogan is also a boil on the ass of humanity. Don't want to get in trouble with your spouse? Don't commit adultery. Don't want to get fired from the WWE for racist comments? Don't use the N word.

Peter Thiel is straight up evil. By all means, sue gawker for invasion of your privacy, outing a billionaire is not very nice I suppose. Billionaire responding by funding lawsuits against the news organization until it shuts down is censorship by any useful meaning of the word though.

Don't cheer, this isn't in any way good for you or anyone besides Hogan and Thiel.