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Bollea can stay in Calif. to be deposed in lawsuit

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

spthompson@tampatrib.com

Published: October 22, 2009

A Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge said Wednesday that Nick Bollea does not have to travel from California, where he now lives, to Florida to be deposed in a lawsuit filed against him after a wreck that left a friend with permanent brain damage.

The guardian for the friend, John Graziano, is suing Bollea, along with Bollea's parents - famed former wrestler Hulk Hogan and Hogan's ex-wife, Linda Bollea.

On Aug. 26, 2007, Graziano was the sole passenger in Nick Bollea's car when it crashed in Clearwater. In addition to the Bolleas, his guardian is suing the motorist said to be racing Bollea at the time of the wreck.

Graziano's guardian and family say they need millions of dollars for Graziano's ongoing care. The Iraq war veteran is in a semiconscious state and is living with his mother.

Nick Bollea's attorney, Stuart Freeman, argued before Judge W. Douglas Baird that Bollea could not give a deposition next week in Florida, as previously scheduled, because he was in the middle of filming a move called "Kill Katie Malone."

Freeman argued that by law, Bollea is not required to travel out of the state in which he currently lives to give a deposition, and Baird agreed. Freeman offered to have Bollea appear for a deposition at a St. Petersburg law firm on the condition the deposition is taken Dec. 11.

Kimberly Kohn, one of the attorneys representing Graziano's guardian, said she and her colleagues have to decide whether to take Freeman up on his Dec. 11 offer.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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