Summary: Writer Ashley Terrill is the latest to sue media giant, Gawker, who is also being sued by wrestler and reality TV star Hulk Hogan.
Gawker is another media company that has been plagued with lawsuits. This time writer Ashley Terrill is seeking $10 million in damages, The Daily Beast reports. In her lawsuit that was filed last week in New York, she claims Gawker “published a false and highly defamatory hit-piece about Terrill” that hurt her reputation.
Terrill was referring to a November 23, 2015, article written by Sam Biddle called, Tinder Confidential: The Hookup App’s Founders Can’t Swipe Away the Past. In the article, Biddle describes the legal battles and inner turmoil inside of Tinder, the company behind the popular dating app, and he names Terrill specifically as a columnist who was “on an obsessive, possibly unhinged pursuit” of digging up dirt on Tinder’s former vice president Whitney Wolfe.
Terrill claims that she contacted Gawker to remove and retract the story, but her request was denied. To write his piece, Biddle had been in contact with Terrill and the Tinder subjects, and Terrill appeared to believe the fact that they were talking to Tinder executives was “concealed.”
Terrill is represented by Los Angeles attorney Charles Harder, who is also representing Terry Bollea, a.k.a Hulk Hogan, in a suit against Gawker. Hulk Hogan is suing Gawker for publishing a grainy video of Hulk Hogan having consensual sex with the wife of his friend, Bubba the Love Sponge. Hogan said he had no knowledge of being filmed.
Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit is seeking $100 million, and he is suing Gawker and its majority stakes owner and found Nick Denton. Gawker Media, a collection of gossip and lifestyle sites, is privately held and reportedly makes $40 million a year.
Hogan’s case is scheduled to begin March 7 in Florida. The case will appear before Florida Circuit Court Judge Pamela Campbell. The Daily Beast reports that Gawker’s legal fees for the Hulk Hogan case has already reached seven figures.
Source: The Daily Beast
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