Tampa Radio: Hulk Hogan Wants Agent Back Into $110M Lawsuit

Hulk Hogan, Heather Cole

Hulk Hogan showed up for a court hearing in St. Petersburg, FL on Wednesday where his attorney asked a judge to bring shock jock Mike "Cowhead" Calta's agent, Tony Burton, back into a $110 million invasion of privacy lawsuit, reports Spectrum News 9.

Hogan, 65, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is suing Calta, the morning host of WHPT 102.5 The Bone, Matt "Spiceboy" Lloyd, Cox Radio and others for allegedly conspiring to leak and financially benefit from illegally recorded video of the former wrestler having sex with Bubba Clem's wife, Heather Cole.

Hogan's attorney, Shane Vogt, asked a new judge on the case, Linda Allan, to bring Burton, along with the New York City agency where he's employed, Buchwald & Associates, back into the suit citing new phone record evidence that shows the agent downplayed his involvement in the conspiracy.

“In the one month surrounding that Gawker leak, Mr. Calta and Mr. Burton had 36 calls that totaled 276-minutes and 30-seconds," Vogt said. "By far, the most they had talked throughout these time periods.”

Back in December of 2017, a former judge dismissed Burton, along with the agency, from the lawsuit based on lack of personal jurisdiction and their sworn affidavits that they were not involved in the conspiracy. Hogan appealed the ruling to the 2nd District Court of Appeal whom recently agreed to relinquish jurisdiction for 60 days to allow the trial court to rule on a 'motion for relief from judgement' based on the new evidence.

“The concealment of these phone calls is very significant to the circumstances surrounding the conspiracy,” said Vogt. “No conspirator is going to admit that they were conspiring."

According to the complaint, in September of 2012, Burton e-mailed A.J. Daulerio, then-editor-in chief of Gawker that he had "a client that has a very significant DVD they want to send you." Burton's client was Calta. The following month, Burton sent Daulerio another email that stated, "I hear there's a second DVD of the same but has more racist comments by Hogan."

Daulerio responded to Burton, "We're gonna slice this up into a highlight reel then do some commentary on the stills. I just say this 'came across our desk' right?" Burton replied, "All I know is it was sent to you anonymously."

Gawker posted a 1:41 highlight reel on their tabloid website and a Pinellas jury in March of 2016, awarded Hogan a $141 million verdict for invasion of his privacy. Gawker went bankrupt and settled for $31 million. Hogan wants to recover the balance of the damages from the current defendants.

Burton and Buchwald & Associate's New York City attorney, Ilene Farkas, told the judge that the phone records are not sworn evidence that show her clients committed fraud on the jurisdictional motion.

The trial is scheduled to begin on August 31, 2020.