Did Hulk Hogan's Lawyers Play Loose With the Truth?
Hulk Hogan's lawyers may have been a bit disingenuous with the court during the Hulk's invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker. If you don't remember, Hogan sued Gawker after it published a short video of him having sex with a friend's wife, eventually winning a $140 million judgment against the blog. It was revealed soon after that Hogan's suit had been financed in part by Peter Thiel, the conservative tech billionaire, largely as revenge for Gawker outing Thiel as gay years before.
And now things have gotten even weirder. An investigation into Hogan's lawyers' legal filings shows has found some "sketchy moves" being made before the court in that case.
The Gawker Bankruptcy
LawNewz (yes, that's "newz" with a Z) dug into Hogan's lawyer's filings in order to make sure that everything "was on the up and up." The blog says it found "a pattern of arguably questionable legal maneuvering" by Hogan and his team, including Charles Harder, who has taken on numerous cases against Gawker.
The blog starts with Hogan's most recent filings in Gawker bankruptcy proceedings. In those papers, Hogan's lawyers assert that Gawker "never advised the Florida court that the bankruptcy filing was imminent," a statement that LawNewz points out is belied by Gawker's own motion to stay the verdict, which cites "immediate financial ruin" and bankruptcy.
Fraud on the Court?
Of course, Hogan's allegedly "questionable legal maneuvering" isn't being pointed out just by LawNewz. Gawker, too, has taken issue with Hogan's legal team. They've filed to have the case dismissed "on grounds of fraud on the court," pointing to a former sting involving the FBI and the Hulk.
Apparently, the FBI had investigated an alleged extortion scheme involving "sex tape brokers" and the Hulk, eventually running a sting operating where Hogan and his attorneys were present. Documents related to that investigation were kept from the jury in Hogan's case, but Gawker was able to obtain them, via a FOIA lawsuit, a few weeks ago. Those documents, Gawker now asserts, show that both Hogan and his attorney misrepresented facts to the court.
If only, ya know, they'd had those docs a few months earlier...
Related Resources:
- Hulk Hogan's Lead Lawyer Explains How His Team Beat "Arrogant," "Defiant" Gawker (The Hollywood Reporter)
- High Cost of Expert Witnesses Shocks Everyone but Lawyers (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- Shkreli, World's Most Hated Pharma Bro, Hires Celebrity Lawyer (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- 11 Celebrities Who Didn't Make It Through Law School (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)