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Hulk Hogan and his defense team received a favorable ruling in Florida court this week as it relates to his $100 million lawsuit against the Gawker website.
Florida Circuit Court judge Pamela Campbell granted Hogan’s request to investigate who leaked sealed transcript information to the National Enquirer containing Hogan’s racially-driven rants recorded on tape several years ago.
Hogan’s defense team has accused Gawker of leaking the information, which prompted their request for an investigation. Gawker has denied the allegation, and the Tampa Bay Times reports that the Enquirer claims the information did not come from Gawker.
“The limited discovery is being permitted for the sole purpose of determining whether or not this serious allegation is true,” Campbell wrote in her ruling.
According to judge Campbell, a “court-appointed expert” will inspect communication among Gawker employees from the period of June 26 to August 6.
June 26 is when the FBI was ordered to submit evidence of how Gawker received the tape containing Hogan engaged in sexual acts with Heather Clem, the ex-wife of radio host Bubba the Love Sponge. The National Enquirer subsequently published leaked information from the audio track of the tape in a series of articles during the summer.
Gawker objected to Tuesday’s court ruling, which takes effect in November, allowing Gawker time to form their appeal.
I just hope this all gets settled for Hulk.
Yes: The things he said was wrong. I just hope, though, that enough time has passed (since the leak) that people are now ready to forgive and move on.