Page 20 - Gawker

The Court July 2017

In July 2017 the New York-based
bankruptcy judge submitted an

opinion that potentially allowed for the

estate of Gawker Media to explore -

with limited scope - how Peter Thiel secretly funded lawsuits

on behalf of wrestler Hulk Hogan. In his opinion, Judge

Bernstein partially sided with the administrator of the

Gawker estate, arguing that he had “shown good cause for

the Thiel-related discovery.” However, previous settlement

agreements between the Gawker estate, Thiel, and Charles

Harder - the lawyer who Thiel paid to represent Hogan -

”impose substantial limitations” on what can be investigated,

the judge said.(13)

Without a definitive ruling on the matter, the judge

ultimately left the decision-making in the hands of the

concerned parties, noting that they should meet to discuss

matters on how to proceed.

In the absence of a ruling it would seem that It’s perfectly
legal to fund someone else’s lawsuit and the practice, known

as “third-party litigation funding” has become

increasingly common in the U.S. Typically, the outside party

negotiates for a defined share of any proceeds from the

suit.

There can be little doubt that Thiel’s subsidy allowed

Hogan’s lawyers to spend as much as they needed to

persuade a jury, in effect, that Gawker resembled a stalker

more than a newspaper.