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 Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, in March won a $140
million jury verdict against Gawker in a privacy lawsuit
stemming from a sex tape Gawker had published.
Gawker, a New York-based website specializing in media and
celebrity news, is appealing the verdict.
Forbes reported late Tuesday that Thiel, an early backer of
Facebook<FB.O> and a co-founder of PayPal<PYPL.O>, had played a
lead role in financing the litigation. A spokesman for Thiel
said Wednesday he would be in touch if Thiel decides to issue a
statement on the matter. Gawker declined to comment.
Thiel, who is also a founder of a hedge fund and a venture
capital firm and has been on outspoken voice on issues including
education, is no stranger to Gawker. In 2007, it published an
article entitled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.”
Thiel kept mum publicly about his sexuality at the time, but has
since said he is gay.
A longtime supporter of libertarian causes, Thiel recently said
he was backing real estate financier Donald Trump in his bid for
president.
“In my experience the freedom to speak, in the view of most
libertarians, is not unlimited,” said Eugene Volokh, a professor
of law at the University of California at Los Angeles, in an
email.
“If Peter Thiel is indeed backing the lawsuit, I assume that he
thinks that disclosing a sex video without the participant’s
permission is a violation of the participant’s rights – here, a
right to privacy.“
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Gawker is also facing lawsuits from Shiva Ayyadurai, an entrepreneur
who has made the controversial claim that he invented email, and
journalist and writer Ashley Terrill.
Lawsuits backed by third parties are not unusual. In most cases,
though, they are financial investments in which backers are
motivated by the potential proceeds from a large damage award.
Secretive third-party financings of lawsuits can put media companies
at a disadvantage during litigation, said Peter Scheer, executive
director of the First Amendment Coalition, in an interview Tuesday.
“There might be circumstances in which knowing who your real
adversary is or the real party of interest who is making a suit
against you may alter one’s perception of the case and strategies
for defense,” Scheer said.
(Reporting by Sarah McBride and Heather Somerville Editing by
Jonathan Weber and Michael Perry)
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