Have you ever not really known someone but decided to help them because you share a dislike for or have enmity with the same individuals enemy? This is something we might see in soaps on the weekends. However it is also something that happens in real life.
This can be seen in the case of Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder, an early supporter of Facebook, and a co-founder and partner at Founders Fund. He is a well know investor in Silicon Valley. He has been secretly covering Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker, an online news organization. Hulk Hogan is suing Gawker Media, saying that they invaded his privacy after publishing a sex tape.
Sources have come forward but have agreed only do this if their identities are kept anonymous. They say that Thiel has been playing a key role in the bankrolling of cases that Terry Bollea, otherwise known as Hulk Hogan, brought up against Gawker. Hogan’s Lawyer is a prominent L.A. based Lawyer, Charles Harder. He is also representing other clients with Lawsuits against Gawker. It is also unclear if is Thiel is backing others also.
Theil is known to be a somewhat unconventional character, he has advocated for teenagers to skip college, blatantly supported Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, besides others. It adds a crease to the case which is has gained a lot of attention because it brought up issues of celebrity privacy and the First Amendment rights of a publication.
On Tuesday, May 24, Gawker founder, Nick Denton, spoke with The New York Times telling them that “If you’re a billionaire and you don’t like the coverage of you, and you don’t particularly want to embroil yourself any further in a public scandal, it’s a pretty smart, rational thing to fund other legal cases.” Gawker will not be sitting back and were appealing the ruling. However the court was unwilling to change the amount due, but that does not mean they will be giving up.
If they fail to appeal the case Gawker might not be able to recover. Due to the damages of the proceeding that they will have to pay and the legal fees involved. This could have a negative effect, in that it could lead to more well-off personality’s backing litigation against media outlets when critical articles are written about them.
The exercise of “third-party litigation funding” is not illegal. It is something that has become very common in the U.S, especially if outside party negotiates share of lawsuit proceeds. It is the age old practice of “you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours.”
Court Proceedings ended in March, Hogan to receive the sum of $140 million. During these proceedings it had been rumored that an affluent individual was backing Hogan’s case, but it stayed a rumor because there were no hard facts backing it. However after an interview with The New York Times, on Wednesday, he has admitted that he has taken part in the case.
However yet the details are still a bit vague. How did Thiel meet Hogan, is he the only one backing the case, is he even benefiting in any way from the case. However one fact is for certain and that is Thiel’s disdain for Gawker. This is due to the fact that the publication brought up his sexuality in 2007, when he was still in the closet, and not ready to share the information. This leading to a rift between Thiel and Gawker.
This seems to be more of a case of personal vendetta and Thiels seems to be trying to drive the media company to bankruptcy. However he told The New York Times that it was more about proving that what Gawker is doing was not right and nor was it for the purpose of public interest.
It seems that there will be more brutal court proceedings ahead as neither wants to back down. As the battle between the two continues, let us keep watching what Gawker, Thiel, and Hogan have left in store.
Featured Image via Flickr/Matthew Glover
