Gizmodo knows Apple won't sue because it would be a public relations nightmare.
That said, did Apple even win these lawsuits, or were they just a baseless threat?
So... If an employee wants to spill the beans, that's fine. But bribing an employee to spill the beans is not fine. I think that's relevant to the flap about the iPhone given that Gizmodo paid $5,000 for the phone, giving the so-called finder of the phone a tremendous incentive to turn it over to them instead of returning it as seems to be their obligation under California law.
(People ignore the law all the time. They eat plants that are illegal to eat. They cross the street against the light. They steal their work contacts for their next job. They post the internal documents about their employer's plan to kill small children to wikileaks.
Selling a phone you found in a bar doesn't seem like much of a risk in this context -- best case, you get $10,000 and to stick it to Apple. Worst case, you get $10,000 and 20 hours of community service.
If Gizmodo gets in legal trouble, the solution is simple -- next time, we'll just see this story in a non-US media outlet. People want interesting reading more than they want to follow the law.)
But we have an entirely different situation with Gizmodo, and they may face an entirely different outcome.
The possibility that crime will get outsourced because you enforce your laws should be irrelevant. You do what you can to enforce your laws in your jurisdiction. Here in Canada we happily arrest Canadian citizens who travel overseas to abuse under-aged sex workers.