Hulk Hogan Re-Files Lawsuit Against Gawker Seeking $100 Million
Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan has refilled his $100 million lawsuit against Gawker, who published photos and a video that were stolen that showed Hogan in a sexual encounter with a former colleague's ex-wife.
Reports indicate that Hogan had first filed suit against the entertainment website in federal court back in October 2011. Hogan did withdraw his suit in federal court in December so that he would be able to re-file his lawsuit in a Florida state court.
The reason for the legal meandering is due to the fact that the woman in the video, Heather Clem, is also the subject of a lawsuit, and the move was needed so that he would be able to produce a more concise claim against Clem and Gawker, rather than conducting two separate lawsuits.
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Hogan also sued Clem's ex-husband, Tampa Bay-based disc jockey DJ Bubba "The Love Sponge" Clem, but that suit was quickly settled.
When the wrestler-turned-reality TV star's sex tape was leaked, various online media outlets published photos of the incident, but Gawker was apparently was slow to remove the content from its site, which led to the lawsuit.
After the story broke, Hulk Hogan's publicist published a news release explaining the reason for the lawsuit, pointing to Hogan being secretly taped having a sexual encounter with Clem.
Hogan had previously claimed the tape was part of a plan with Bubba "The Love Sponge" Clem and his ex-wife to extort money from Hogan. The taping allegedly took place six years ago, but was only recently revealed publicly.
Hogan began wrestling in 1977 but didn't become known until joining the World Wrestling Federation (now Entertainment) in the 1990s. He had a tumultuous career with the WWE and is currently signed with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wresting.
