At a brief hearing this past Wednesday, Judge Pamela Campbell ruled that Gawker’s lawyers (as well as Hulk Hogan’s) will be able to rewatch all five DVDs produced by the FBI in their Freedom of Information Litigation with Gawker. With the FBI investigation in question looking into the alleged extortion attempt against Hogan using the sex videos of him and Heather Cole, the five DVDs in question are made up of the three sex videos as well as two DVDs of the FBI sting operation on “sex tape broker” and disgraced lawyer Keith Davidson. The judge also made a point to secure the lawyers a conference room with a projection screen to watch the DVDs, as their previous viewing was jury room with a loud fan that made it hard to hear the audio as they huddled around a laptop.

In and of itself, that doesn’t seem like a big deal, beyond that Gawker, for once, got what they wanted from Judge Campbell. Where it starts to get interesting is that Campbell not only ruled for Gawker, but, after viewing the DVDs, also suggested that the sides re-enter mediation to settle…and they’d realize why she did after viewing the DVDs. The only indication she gave as to what they’d find was a suggestion that the lawyers listen to the audio CD of the sting operation again before coming into court to watch the video. In court transcripts, it’s been implied that the audio on the CD was coming from a separate recording device from the audio on the DVDs. So it’s possible that one picked up something the other didn’t for one reason or another. This may be a good sign for Gawker, which sold shares to outside investors for the first time this past week to get a cash infusion, in large part to help fund their legal fees. Those legal fees now include a defamation lawsuit from a third party with Hogan attorney Charles Harder representing the plaintiff.

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