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Gawker hypocrisy fappening2/11/2024 ![]() Johnson skipped out on his last court date for the suit in April, just a few weeks after Hogan’s win against Gawker in Florida. Johnson insists that he has no connection to Hogan’s lawyers or Thiel. "I paid for my own lawyers using my own funds," Johnson wrote in an email to FORBES, adding that his decision to represent himself was “a deliberate part of my strategy.” ![]() Harder has also sued Gawker on behalf of two other clients besides Hogan, and on Tuesday, Gawker reported that he was assisting another person in an attempt to get a story involving Donald Trump's hair retracted from the site. In another, a plaintiff in Illinois said he was continuing his defamation case against Gawker on appeal and that he had the help of "Hulk Hogan's lawyers in California." In one case, Harder worked to identify former unpaid Gawker interns to put together a class action labor lawsuit. While it's unclear if Harder was connected to this process, FORBES revealed in previous stories how his firm was involved in other lawsuits against Gawker where it was not a named plaintiff's attorney. Representatives for Johnson have also talked to other LA-area law firms, another source told FORBES, and his case was pitched to at least one of them as part of a wider litigious plan against Gawker. She called Johnson's case “totally frivolous” and said that the stories about him were “fair game to report on” given past rumors about Johnson. “I don’t know what his intention was because you need both filing and serving to have a lawsuit,” she said. Johnson, who is representing himself in California, never formally served the defendants the lawsuit, according to Gawker President and legal counsel Heather Dietrick. 2015-prior to the dismissal of his Missouri suit. Johnson would go on to pursue a second lawsuit against Gawker in a Fresno, Calif. The blogger, who is known for his inflammatory posts on his website GotNews and was personally banned from Twitter, had his case dismissed by a judge in January due to a lack of personal jurisdiction (Johnson lives in California, while Gawker is based in New York). “I don't know anyone at the firm as far as I know,” he wrote in an email to FORBES.ĭespite his proclamations, Johnson’s case in Missouri didn’t go very far. Johnson denied having any contact with Harder’s firm. ![]() Harder, who now represents multiple clients in lawsuits against Gawker, declined to comment for this story. That person said that Johnson had a phone conversation with lawyers at Harder Mirell & Abrams-the law firm that was paid by Thiel to represent Hogan-and that the two parties exchanged notes. Sometime after filing his initial complaint against Gawker in Missouri last year, Johnson contacted Hulk Hogan’s Los Angeles-based law firm, according to a source familiar with the situation. “Either Hulk Hogan or I will triumph over Gawker. “I can’t tell you how I know because that would break my word but I promise you it,” he wrote. One piece sought to show “why so many people… despise him,” while another the dredged up rumors from Johnson’s college years.Ī screenshot of a post on Chuck Johnson's Facebook page last year. Trotter and now-former Gawker employee Greg Howard heavily criticized Johnson. Louis court, seeking millions of dollars in damages after the company published a series of stories about him in late 2014. Burns sued Gawker for defamation in a St. Last summer, Johnson and his lawyer John C. If Johnson’s case against Gawker flames out this week, it will end his yearlong legal back-and-forth with the New York-based news organization, a pursuit that some legal bloggers deemed frivolous from the start. When emailed on Tuesday and asked if he would appear for his Thursday court date, Johnson said, “I haven’t decided yet.” But I don’t want to spend my own money suing people when they probably won’t be able to pay, and they have much better attorneys than I’m able to afford, anyway.” “There are lots of people who hate Gawker,” he said. When asked by FORBES late last month if he would be continuing his case, Johnson said he was “pretty sure” he was dropping the matter. That case, which FORBES revealed was secretly funded by billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, has taken a toll on Gawker, pushing the company into bankruptcy protection and a court-supervised auction.Ĭompared to Hogan’s suit, Johnson’s effort against Gawker has been more haphazard and, to this point, unsuccessful. Johnson’s lawsuit is one of at least 16 filed against Gawker in state and federal courts since late 2012, when Hogan first brought his suit against Gawker. While Johnson’s case isn’t as high-profile as Hogan’s, it illustrates the sheer range of complaints filed against Gawker, whose brand of biting, sometimes tittle-tattle journalism has led to a spate of litigation.
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