First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams expressed his dismay over news of Gawker’s $31 million settlement with Hulk Hogan backed in the defamation suit by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel. “The notion of a billionaire funding a litigation designed to put a website out of business is itself deeply troubling. The idea of an outsider as well-heeled as Mr. Thiel destroying a publication is as significant and troubling a First Amendment development as anything else about the case,” said Abrams. (Observer, November 2, 2016, by John Bonazzo)
The settlement became advantageous given the uncertainty of prevailing in an appeal and the need to avoid legal complications that could disrupt Gawker’s sale to Univision. (The Poynter Institute, November 2, 2016, by James Warren)