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Comment by Pinatubo | Hacker News Reader

Why would Thiel need to fund this lawsuit in the first place? Don't lawyers usually take cases with the potential for a multi-million dollar payoff on a contingency basis?

Edit: Apparently there's another rumor that the Hulkster refused a generous settlement from Gawker in favor of taking his chances at trial. If true, the Thiel rumor would make more sense.

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He obviously has a personal vendetta against gawker. And hey, fair enough. They weren't exactly nice to him.

But then, tabloids aren't very nice to Hollywood celebrities either. Yet celebrities in Hollywood tolerate their detractors far more than Thiel even has to tolerate his.

Do good engineers take their salary entirely in equity? In both cases, despite high payoffs, there is extreme variability in outcome. Running a serious lawsuit is very expensive.

Taking large cases on contingency is exactly the business model of many law firms. They don't charge the client directly, and take about 50% of the payout, plus legal fees if the court awards it. The firms take on multiple cases at once so they can afford to lose some.

Accepting funding from an outside party reduces the risk of making nothing, but eliminates the big payoff. Most serious law firms wouldn't take that deal.

Was the firm in this case very small? That's the only way this rumor would make sense. Even then, why wouldn't Thiel just point the Hulkster to a big law firm that could handle the case without help?

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