Shortly after refiling a $150 million defamation lawsuit involving claims that she worked for an escort service, Melania Trump has reached a settlement with one of the defendants named in her original defamation suit.

According to Trump’s lawyers, Maryland-based blogger Webster Tarpley–who published the escort claims on his website Tarpley.net–has “agreed to pay her a substantial sum as a settlement.” However, the specific amount of money remains unknown.

Tarpley wrote an article including the escort rumor in August, but had retracted it before Trump sued him in September. The article also included claims that she suffered from a nervous breakdown

Additionally, Trump’s suit named Mail Media, the company that owns the British newspaper Daily Mail, which printed similar rumors. Though a Montgomery County Circuit Court  judge dismissed the Daily Mail case on February 2, because the case does not fall under that court’s jurisdiction, Trump was allowed to move forward with the Tarpley suit.

On February 6, she re-filed the suit against the Daily Mail in New York, where Mail Media has corporate offices. In the suit, Trump claims that the article hurt her potential business interests, including the opportunity to “launch a broad-based commercial brand” that would sell clothes, accessories, and cosmetics.

Trump’s actions have attracted criticism for ethical reasons. Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, told the Washington Post: “There has never been a first lady of the United States who insinuated that she intended to make a lot of money because of the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity of being first lady.”

Painter is among a group of lawyers currently suing President Donald Trump for allowing his businesses to receive money from foreign governments, which they say violates the Constitution and poses a conflict of interest.

The First Lady and her husband have a history of threatening media outlets with legal action. In October, Donald Trump vowed to sue the New York Times for libel when they published an article about two women alleging he had groped them. On the campaign trail, he pledged to loosen libel laws to make suing media outlets easier.

After a writer for People published an article about being sexually harassed by Donald Trump, Melania Trump tweeted at the magazine that she would “consider her legal options” over details from the story that she claimed were false.

! @people #NatashaStoynoff pic.twitter.com/zXNm6boveP

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) October 13, 2016

Representing Trump in her libel cases is Charles Harder, the same attorney who helped wrestler Hulk Hogan win $140 million in his defamation case against Gawker Media, an outcome that resulted in Gawker declaring bankruptcy and shutting down.

Lawsuits like Hogan’s and now Trump’s spark fears about allowing wealthy individuals to cripple media organizations with costly legal proceedings, a precedent that could endanger the Freedom of the Press.

But the Trumps don’t always go to court with the intention of winning. In July, a USA Today report found that Donald Trump didn’t proceed with most of the defamation lawsuits he filed.

Evan Mascagni, a policy director at the Public Participation Project, told the outlet:

Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to silence his critics over the years through frivolous lawsuits. If you really examine some of these cases, it becomes pretty obvious that Trump didn’t file these suits to seek justice. Rather, he filed them to intimidate, harass and silence his critics.

Victoria Sheridan

Victoria is an editorial intern at Law Street. She is a senior journalism major and French minor at George Washington University. She’s also an editor at GW’s student newspaper, The Hatchet. In her free time, she is either traveling or planning her next trip abroad. Contact Victoria at VSheridan@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A documentary about the lawsuit that pitted celebrity wrestler Hulk Hogan–whose actual name is Terry Bollea–against news and gossip site Gawker is coming to Netflix.

“Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and Trials of a Free Press,” which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, explores the case that awarded Bollea over $140 million in damages, drove Gawker’s founder Nick Denton to file for bankruptcy, and resulted in the site shutting down.

Bollea first filed a defamation suit against Gawker in Florida state court in 2012, after an editor at the site posted a segment of a sex tape Bollea had made with his best friend’s then-wife. Although Bollea had already spoken publicly about the tape and stills from it had been published elsewhere, he testified that Gawker violated his privacy by releasing the video footage. In his testimony, he tried to distinguish between his roles as a private figure and as a public persona.

In March, a jury granted Bollea $115 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. Gawker filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied in May. Gawker Media subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June, closed Gawker.com in August, and sold its six sister sites to Univision.

It was revealed in May that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, the cofounder of Paypal, had secretly been helping Bollea fund his lawsuit. Thiel had previously condemned Gawker; the site outed him as gay in 2007.

Meanwhile, the case sparked a handful of journalists to speak out against allowing wealthy or powerful individuals to intimidate or cause the decline of publications–particularly when President Donald Trump has said he wants to change libel laws to make suing news organizations easier.

According to Business Insider, the film highlights the threat that billionaires like Thiel pose to the freedom of the press. Director Brian Knappenberger told the news site: “This notion of [Thiel’s] nine-year grudge and this epic tale of revenge was so spectacular.”

Denton and A.J. Daulerio, the former Gawker editor who posted the sex tape clip, as well as Bollea’s lawyer will appear in the film, although Bollea declined to appear.

Bollea v. Gawker, which consistently made headlines since the case began, is sure to make for a fascinating movie.

Victoria Sheridan

Victoria is an editorial intern at Law Street. She is a senior journalism major and French minor at George Washington University. She’s also an editor at GW’s student newspaper, The Hatchet. In her free time, she is either traveling or planning her next trip abroad. Contact Victoria at VSheridan@LawStreetMedia.com.

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With great fame comes great…er chances of being sued. Nobody knows this fact better than celebrities, and 2016 was no different. This past year we saw some of our most beloved stars entangled in celebrity court battles ranging from the bizarre to the just plain wrong. For the sake of nostalgia, here are our picks for the top celebrity legal battles of 2016!

10. Lindsey Lohan Loses to Grand Theft Auto

Lindsey Lohan suing @RockstarGames over Grand Theft Auto 5 character pic.twitter.com/5TPQpDnVRL

— RushLimpCall (@rushlimpcall) October 11, 2014

Actress Lindsey Lohan was convinced Grand Theft Auto V illegally used her likeness when creating its infamous red bikini girl, Lacey Jonas. As a result, she sued the game’s makers back in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2016 that her case was eventually dismissed. The overall judgement concluded:

[They are depictions] not of Lohan herself, but merely the avatar in the game that Lohan claims is a depiction of her.

Even if we accept plaintiffs’ contentions that the video game depictions are close enough to be considered representations of the respective plaintiffs, plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed because this video game does not fall under the statutory definitions of ‘advertising’ or ‘trade’.

Better luck next time LiLo.

Read: Lindsay Lohan’s Lawsuit Against “Grand Theft Auto V” Will Proceed

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Hulk Hogan will be receiving at least $31 million to settle his privacy case against Gawker, after the media company published his sex tape, according to court documents.

This feud between Gawker, its founder, Nick Denton, and Terry Bollea–Hogan’s real name–has been going on since the $100 million defamation case was filed in 2012.

The privacy in question pertained to a sex tape of Hogan and Heather Cole, who was the wife of Hogan’s best friend Bubba “the Love Sponge” Clem at the time, that Gawker featured on its website. While it did not play the entire video, it played over a minute and a half chunk of it, while other news sites only showed stills and discussed the video.

Gawker named the story, in its usual gossipy way, “Even for a Minute, Watching Hulk Hogan Have Sex in a Canopy Bed is Not Safe For Work but Watch it Anyway.” The story not only included part of the video, but offered a graphic play-by-play of the sex tape for those who didn’t want to watch. Hogan claimed that he was secretly filmed.

The subsequent case forced Gawker to file for bankruptcy after a jury awarded Hogan $140 million in March. Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley billionaire, was secretly funding Hogan’s case against Gawker.

Thiel explained in a New York Times article in August why he funded Hogan’s case:

In 2007, I was outed by the online gossip blog Gawker. It wasn’t so many years ago, but it was a different time: Gay men had to navigate a world that wasn’t always welcoming, and often faced difficult choices about how to live safely and with dignity. In my case, Gawker decided to make those choices for me. I had begun coming out to people I knew, and I planned to continue on my own terms. Instead, Gawker violated my privacy and cashed in on it.

Denton broke the news on his blog, with a piece titled “A hard peace,” where he wrote, “After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached. The saga is over.”

He then goes on to discuss how “three true stories” are going to be taken down.

Denton said he was confident that the appeals would overturn the original judgement.

“I will continue to work on topic forums, still convinced that the internet can bring people together in shared understanding rather than just triggering conflict between them,” Denton wrote. “Hulk Hogan’s retirement will be comfortable.”

In August, Univision acquired Gawker Media for $135 million. While Gawker itself has since been shut down, websites like Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Deadspin, Lifehacker, and Kotaku still publish content.

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The drama between Hulk Hogan and Gawker continues after news broke Wednesday that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel secretly bankrolled Hogan’s legal bills for his lawsuit against the site.

On Monday, the New York Times reported that there may be some validity to the conspiracy theories speculating that the former WWE star had a financial backer funding his costly three-year legal battle with the gossip news site.

Then on Tuesday, the rumors quickly turned into reality when Forbes reporters Ryan Mac and Matt Drange claimed to have uncovered the financial backer’s identity. In an article published Tuesday night the pair wrote:

According to people familiar with the situation who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, Thiel, a cofounder and partner at Founders Fund, has played a lead role in bankrolling the cases Terry Bollea, a.k.a. Hogan, brought against New York-based Gawker. Hogan is being represented by Charles Harder, a prominent Los Angeles-based lawyer. A spokesperson for Thiel declined to comment.

Hogan sued Gawker after the gossip blog published a portion of Hogan’s leaked sex tape with Heather Cole, who at the time was married to Hogan’s best friend, radio personality Bubba “the Love Sponge” Clem. In late March, Hogan was awarded $140 million in damages.

According to the Times,

Questions about the independence of Mr. Bollea, who never mentioned a third-party backer, first emerged when his lawyer removed a claim from his complaint that had the effect of eliminating Gawker’s insurance company from the case. That struck many legal observers as odd, given that most lawyers seeking large payouts want to include claims that are insured against because doing so increases the chances of a settlement.

If Thiel is the one financing Hogan’s legal bills, it would make some sense. Thiel, who is gay, has been outspoken about his hate for Gawker ever since the site crossed ethical boundaries when it tried to out him in a piece titled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.”

As it stands there’s still a lot we don’t know about the pair’s potential partnership. For example, is Thiel Hogan’s only backer? How did they become involved with one another? Will Hogan pay Thiel back if he wins? After all, it is not illegal for a third party to fund someone’s legal bills. In fact, this arrangement is not at all uncommon, and often happens when the third party has an ulterior motive.

Since Hogan’s case ended, Gawker has been hit with several new lawsuits filed by Hogan’s lawyer, Charles Harder, that target certain writers, and on Wednesday a judge denied Gawker’s motion for a new trial in the Hulk Hogan case.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The crazy case between Hulk Hogan and Gawker has finally reached a decision–and Hogan has emerged victorious. A jury awarded the famous professional wrestler $115 million after a two week trial, but just six hours of deliberations.

Hulk Hogan sued Gawker after the media company released a sex tape of Hogan and the wife of a former friend of his. Hogan claimed that Gawker violated his privacy by releasing the tape, and that they didn’t reach out to him, or the woman in the tape, Heather Cole, before releasing it publicly on the site in an article entitled: “Even for a Minute, Watching Hulk Hogan Have Sex in a Canopy Bed Is Not Safe for Work but Watch It Anyway.” To read the full details of the case, check out our previous coverage here.

Really, the argument on the part of Hogan’s lawyer came down to privacy, and whether or not the video that Gawker published was actually “newsworthy.” But Gawker’s lawyers argued that this came down to First Amendment rights. Gawker’s attorney, Michael Sullivan, stated his concern that this case would open up a dangerous door for public figures to sue media companies. According to CNN:

Sullivan warned that Hogan’s lawsuit could have a chilling effect on free press if ‘powerful celebrities, politicians and public figures would use our courts to punish people.’ ‘We will all be worse off as a result,’ he said.

Before the ruling came out this evening, Eric Goldman, co-director of Santa Clara University’s High Tech Law Institute spoke to Fusion about the case and stated:

Right now, there’s an ‘anything goes’ mentality when it comes to publishing information about celebrities. If Gawker loses, we might begin to see some rethinking of that mentality. If Gawker wins, I think it will further embolden online publishers that anything related to celebrities is fair game.

Given that the six jurors sided with Hogan, and Gawker did lose, that first consideration may be true. However, it seems like Gawker’s lawyers are going to appeal the case–as Gawker founder Nick Denton read from a written statement:

Given key evidence and the most important witness were both improperly withheld from this jury, we all knew the appeals court will need to resolve the case. … That’s why we feel very positive about the appeal that we have already begun preparing, as we expect to win this case ultimately.

Given the high price tag and high profile nature of this case, the appeal will be one to watch.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A legal feud between Hulk Hogan and the Gawker media empire is  finally making its way to court. Hogan filed a $100 million defamation suit against Gawker back in 2012 after the site published a minute and 41-second long chunk of the sex tape. That suit is now making its way to trial–jury selection just began in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The sex tape featured Hogan–whose legal name is actually Terry Bollea–and Heather Cole, who at the time was the wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. The fact that Clem and Hogan used to be good friends put a whole new twisted spin on the entire thing. The existence of the tape was actually not a secret, given that multiple news sites referenced it and some published stills from it. But Gawker, which received the video anonymously in 2012, was the first to actually publish a segment of it. The article was entitled, with true Gawker panache “Even for a Minute, Watching Hulk Hogan Have Sex in a Canopy Bed Is Not Safe for Work but Watch It Anyway.”

Hogan is claiming that his privacy was violated because of the sex tape leak, is suing the media company for defamation, and accused Gawker’s lawyers of releasing confidential comments from the video to the media. While the idea that the most salacious part of a sex video could be the things said on it sounds kind of insane, it’s not–the comments released were racist remarks about his daughter Brooke Hogan dating a black man. The ensuing backlash eventually led to WWE severing ties with one of its biggest stars. Hogan’s lawyers called Gawker’s actions “outrageous, irresponsible, and despicable.”

Gawker’s response has been mostly focused on First Amendment rights, and the media company says that because Hogan has been open about his sex life in the past, the video was fair game. Gawker founder Nick Denton said last summer: “I care about the readers having the right to know both sides of a story. Readers should also have the right to get the story behind the celebrity story.”

Essentially, this entire case boils down to questions about how much privacy celebrities can expect–especially in the age of the internet and easily-shareable recordings. A jury in St. Petersburg will have to decide the answer to those questions soon.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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