Update: We now know why Hulk Hogan dismissed his original Gawker lawsuit. He wanted to refile both it and a similar lawsuit against Heather Clem in the same court.
New reports on Friday say that the former pro wrestler has refiled his $100 million lawsuit against Gawker in a Florida state court. At the same time, the 59-year-old Hogan has also filed a lawsuit against Clem in the same court, accusing her of leaking the six-year-old sex tape to the media and recording the video without his knowledge.
Original story: It's unclear why he did so, but on Thursday Hulk Hogan dropped his $100 million lawsuit against Gawker for leaking his sex tape online. He had earlier settled a similar lawsuit against former BFF Bubba the Love Sponge.
Bubba was involved -- Hogan believed -- because the minute-long clip was of Hogan having sex with Bubba's then-wife, Heather Clem. The video had been recorded over six years ago, when the Hulkster was still married to Linda Hogan.
Financial terms of the settlement were not released, but Bubba (nee Todd Alan Clem) released a letter of apology, and also apologized on-air. Bubba had previously implied that Hulk Hogan may have released the tape himself, but the letter retracted that earlier on-air comment, saying:
It is my belief that Hulk is not involved, and has not ever been involved, in trying to release the video, or exploit it, or otherwise gain from the video’s release in any way.
In addition, Bubba the Love Sponge said that he is "committed to helping Hulk and his attorneys find whoever is responsible for the release of the tape."
Meanwhile, last October, after Gawker posted the video clip, Hogan sued the site. According to the court documents, Hogan voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit "without prejudice." In other words, if he wants to, he can re-file. Possibly, he felt his case was not strong enough -- yet.
That being said, no one really knows except Hulk Hogan and his lawyers.
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