Jury selection set to begin in Hogan-Gawker case

 

That prompted several companies – including the Associated Press and Scripps Media, which owns ABC Action News – to ask the judge to unseal the records.

 

"There is a fine line that is really at issue here, that is the difference between what a public figure makes public and what a public figure has the right to keep private," explains Thomas M. Cooley Law School Professor Jeff Swartz to ABC Action News. "That is, how far does the public have the right to delve into a public figure's private life?"

 

Swartz is a former Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge and former prominent attorney. He says Gawker Media has filed several motions to try to stain Bollea's character and decrease the amount of damages, even if Gawker were to lose the case.

 

If Gawker were to lose the $100 million case, it could potentially put them out of business.

 

"This is what they do," explains Swartz. "They get their hands on private matters that is people’s private sex tapes and other things and they put them out there for whatever profit they can get for it. They feel for all intents and purposes -- an invasion on their business model."

 

"[Bollea] is claiming the fact that I talk about my sex life doesn’t mean you have the right to disclose what I do in the privacy of bedroom. That is, what I choose to let you know, I choose to let you know.  What I don’t want you to know, you don’t have the right to know," adds Swartz.