Joseph O’Connell reports that Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against a woman who secretly recorded a sex tape and Gawker, who published it, continues:
Hulk Hogan can face off in state court against Gawker and the woman who allegedly secretly recorded and released their sex tape, a federal judge ruled.
Gawker had hoped to preserve federal jurisdiction by claiming that the lawsuit “fraudulently misjoined” Heather Clem as a defendant, but U.S. District Judge James Whittemore said the “claims against Heather Clem and Gawker are ‘logically related’ and rest on the same set of operative facts – namely, the recording and publication of the video.”
Read more on Courthouse News.
Hogan had been unable to get a court to issue an injunction prohibiting Gawker from posting it.
I don’t know about you, but this case concerns me, which is why I’ve been following it on this blog. Hulk Hogan has the means to pursue his case. What about most of us? If someone had a tape of us, would we have the means to fight to protect our privacy or pursue a case like this? I think not. It’s easy to say, “don’t make a sex tape,” but the harder question, I think, is what protects our privacy in these situations? One might argue that the woman had a duty of confidentiality that she violated or that what Gawker did just appealed to prurient interests without serving any legitimate news purpose, but once the tape or material is out in the wild, what can the average person do?