Peter Theil’s war on Gawker
In 2007, Gawker media, a New York City-based blog founded by Denton and Spiers outed Peter Thiel. This blog targeted celebrities and media personalities. It accused Thiel of being a total gay. Those close to him reported to Forbes that the blog devastated him. Gawker media defended the post with a claim that he has outed some of his friends severally in the past. However, at this particular point in time, Thiel did not take any jury action against The Gawker Media for having intruded in his lifestyle. It was until 2013 that an opportune time for him came to indirectly revenge against Gawker Media though he claimed that it was one of his philanthropic activities and an attempt to support the Intimate Privacy Protection Act. At this time, Gawker Media through Daulerio posted a detailed sex tape of Hulk Hogan and the wife to one of his friend’s Heather Clem which attracted massive attention of up to seven million viewers. Through his lawyer, Hulk Hogan whose real name is Terry Bollea requested Gawker to remove the clip from public viewership but in vain. This led Houstan to hire more lawyers in preparation of a lawsuit. Eventually, Gawker removed the tape due to the court litigation and updated its viewers that the clip had only been removed temporarily to give room for the court process. Terry through his new lawyer, Harder, filed a lawsuit in a Florida Court against Gawker’s act of intruding into his personal life and turning his world upside down. It was during this time that Peter Thiel funded the litigation. Gawker sold its minority shares to Columbus Nova Technology Partners in response to the then ongoing lawsuit. The court proceedings took a period of up to three years and gained massive public attention. In 2016, the Florida court judged in favor of Hulk Hogan for the invasion of privacy. He was awarded an amount totaling to $140 million. In October of the same year, Gawker Media was announced bankrupt due to the compensation it had made to Bollea (Drange, 2016)
A Lady Sues A Texas Roadhouse Restaurant
Sardine Durbin filed a lawsuit against Texas Roadhouse restaurant claiming that she suffered severe emotional distress caused by David Mitchell who threw a napkin to her seven-week daughter. She claimed the manager told her to cover her baby’s head and her breast. David said that another patron had complained about the issue and he needed her to cover up. Sardine tried to politely explain that it was within the law and she had all the rights to breastfeed her child (Klausner, 2018) .
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The lawsuit claimed that the restaurant had failed for not properly training its employees according to Kentucky law that permits women to breastfeed in public. The restaurant’s spokesperson said that the employee was given time off after the incidence. The company spokesperson also apologized for what had happened and claimed that David was misguided and wrong (Klausner, 2018) .
The Significance
Both items illustrate conflict diagnosis as well as conflict resolution. Thiels conflict arose from infringement of his personal life by Gawker media in a manner that ruined his reputation. Thiel revenged by supporting his friend file a lawsuit that saw the downfall of Gawker media. In the case of Sardine, she suffered emotional distress from the manager’s action. She too filed a lawsuit.
Comparison
In both cases, the conflict is based on how the victims felt. Gawker injured Thiel's reputation while Sardine claims that she suffered emotional distress. In both, the conflict was triggered by what somebody else did or said. Both conflicts are based on interactions amongst people. Thiel’s case was more of a struggle to dominate indirectly to revenge against Gawker whereas Sardine’s case was a struggle of being right. In both scenarios, conflict resolution was sought through litigation as a last resort. There was neither mediation nor arbitration in both cases. However, in the second news item, the lady had tried to politely explain to the manager that her actions were well within the law, but he went on to treat her with contempt. The company apologized for what had transpired.
References
Drange, M. (2016, June 21). Forbes . Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2016/06/21/peter-thiels-war-on-gawker-a-timeline/#417de79e51c5
Furlong, G. T. (2005). The conflict resolution toolbox: models & maps for analyzing, diagnosing, and resolving conflict. Mississauga, Ontario: J. Wiley & Sons Canada.
Klausner, A. (2018, November 21). Mom: Restaurant manager threw napkin on my breastfeeding baby’s head . Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2018/11/21/breastfeeding-mom-says-texas-roadhouse-tried-to-force-her-to-cover-up/
