Was Gawker’s legal defeat in the Hulk Hogan sex-tape case an outlier among similar cases?
In 2013, pro wrestler Hulk Hogan—under his real name, Terry Bollea—sued Gawker, a blog, for publishing a 90-second clip of him having sex with a friend’s wife. A Florida jury ruled in Bollea's favor, surprising legal observers as similar lawsuits by celebrities against media organizations most often fail on First Amendment grounds. “The Florida ruling will almost certainly be overturned on appeal,” Fortune magazine predicted.
Rather than face what might be an expensive appeal, Gawker’s owner paid Bollea $32 million to settle the case. Bollea’s suit was funded by billionaire Peter Thiel, who had apparently taken offense at earlier coverage of his own private life by Gawker’s publisher.
U.S. courts in such cases tend to favor the publisher over a public figure alleging privacy violations, as in ex-Congresswoman Katie Hill’s recent loss suing outlets that published nude photos of herself.
