Hulk Hogan can breathe easy, judge denies motion to make his court records public

On Thursday, we brought you the news that a group of media outlets, including the Associated Press, had filed a motion asking Pamela Campbell, the judge in charge of Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media, to make sealed records in the case public, which would have included three secretly recorded sex tapes with the ex-wife of Bubba The Love Sponge, Heather Cole.

Well, Hogan can already breathe easy, as Campbell immediately denied the request yesterday, according to the AP:

"A Florida judge has rejected motions for a group of media outlets asking to make records in the Hulk Hogan sex video case public.

The judge responded to motions Friday. They had been filed a day earlier."

This is an unsurprising move, as Campbell was the judge who had sealed the records in the first place, after Gawker's lawyers had won a lengthy freedom of information battle with the FBI to obtain the evidence they had gathered during an investigation of Los Angeles based lawyer Keith Davidson over allegedly attempting to extort money from Hogan in exchange for keeping the sex tapes suppressed.

Although there are public interest arguments that some of the documents from this investigation should be released, to clarify whether Hogan's statements to the FBI match up with what he's stated elsewhere, and to probe the allegation that Gawker Media leaked transcripts of the sex tapes to the National Enquirer, clearly there's no reason for the footage itself to become public record, which would be a further gross violation of Hogan's privacy. It will be interesting to see whether the media companies involved in this motion will appeal the decision in order to find a compromise whereby more information is made public whilst keeping the DVDs sealed.

H/t to David Bixenspan of SEScoops.com who alerted us to this story.