Jason Pierre-Paul has settled his lawsuit against ESPN and NFL insider Adam Schefter, though the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Schefter posted the New York Giants defender’s medical record on Twitter a couple of summers ago after Pierre-Paul suffered a gruesome injury to his hand in a fireworks accident. It was a move that cost two people their jobs at the hospital and was heavily criticized by some as a violation of Pierre-Paul’s privacy rights.
This was an opinion the pass rusher clearly held to be true, and Giants co-owner Steve Tisch stood behind his player after Pierre-Paul sued ESPN and Schefter.
However, as noted by Christian Red of the New York Daily News, Pierre-Paul has settled the case and is ready to move on.
“The matter has been amicably resolved,” Pierre-Paul’s Miami-based attorney John Lukacs told the Daily News Friday. “I have no further comment.”
ESPN also issued a statement on the matter while not apologizing whatsoever for the action of Schefter to disclose Pierre-Paul’s private medical records.
“ESPN continues to firmly believe that its reporting about Mr. Pierre-Paul’s July 2015 injury, including the use of a medical chart that definitively described the seriousness of the injury and resulting treatment, was both newsworthy and journalistically appropriate.”
While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, we’d be willing to bet Pierre-Paul was handsomely compensated for Schefter’s decision, especially because Florida has very strict rules that “prohibits medical records from being disclosed without a patient’s consent,” according to the report.
With this matter behind him, Pierre-Paul now has his eyes set on a huge prize in free agency, either with the Giants or another team in need of a pass rusher. He’s reportedly looking at being paid somewhere in the same neighborhood of the five-year, $85 million deal New York signed with Olivier Vernon last spring.