New Demand from Hulk Hogan's Family in 'Mysterious' Death

You might think Hulk Hogan's time in the. spotlight ended with his passing in. July, but a new potentially explosive. chapter is currently unfolding. His. family is now reportedly taking more. steps that could open the door to a. medical malpractice lawsuit. We are. going to dig into the investigation, the. unanswered questions surrounding his. death, and what this could mean legally. with insight from a civil and personal. injury attorney. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

[Music]. Now, when Hulk Hogan, the wrestling. legend, passed away this past July at. age 71, at first it seemed this was just. a tragic end, a sad end to an icon in. entertainment. We knew all the answers. and that was it. But that has not been. the case. As you know from what we've. been covering here on Sidebar, there's a. lot of strange details surrounding his. death. And now his family is making.

waves in the legal world. They have just. filed a petition asking for extra time. to explore a potential medical. malpractice lawsuit in connection with. his death. And the implications could be. significant because here's the thing, nothing has been filed yet. No one has. officially been accused of wrongdoing, but the move signals that Hogan's widow, Sky Daly, and his son, Nicholas Blea, are seriously considering whether.

mistakes in Hulk Hogan's medical care. may have contributed to his death. And. before we get into the latest though, I. I got to catch you up because there is a. lot to unpack here. Hulk Hogan, born. Terry Blea, died on July 24th, 2025 at. his Clearwater, Florida home. Now, initially, the Penllis County Medical. Examiner's Office determined his death. was natural, attributing it to a heart. attack stemming from atrial. fibrillation, this is an irregular. heartbeat, and chronic lymphocitic.

leukemia. He reportedly collapsed at his. home while recovering from surgery, having been released from the hospital. just a day prior. That's according to. the Tampa Bay Times. But even though the. cause of death was ruled as natural, questions quickly emerged. The. Clearwater Police Department told Law. and Crime at the time, quote, "The. Clearwater Police Department continues. its investigation into the July 24th. death of Terry Bleoa, also known as Hulk. Hogan. The unique nature of this case. has required us to interview multiple. witnesses and seek medical records from.

a variety of providers, and our. detectives continue to do that. All of. this takes time. Until the investigation. is completed, no records related to the. case, including body camera footage, can. be released. And to be clear, no. records, including body cam footage, have been released yet. And police have. said the investigation is still active. While I'll tell you this much, Hogan's. friends and family, they have also. weighed in publicly about this. WWE Hall. of Famer Jimmy Hart, who knew Hulk Hogan. for decades, described the sudden nature.

of his death to People magazine, saying, quote, "I called Hogan on Wednesday. night, and then Thursday morning is when. everything took place." So just just. overnight it all happened, but it was so. positive the day before. It just hit so. fast. It was like, "Oh my god, we. thought he was doing so well, you know.". Now, Hart recounted that Hogan had been. enjoying life, watching wrestling, doing. karaoke with his son Nick, simply living. his best post ring life despite the. chronic wear and tear on his body from.

years of wrestling. But meanwhile, Hogan's widow, Sky Daily, has raised. questions about whether complications. from a neck procedure, a neck surgery. that Hogan underwent in May, whether. that played a role in his passing. Specifically, she claims that during the. procedure, Hogan's frenic nerve, which. controls the diaphragm and breathing, that that was compromised. According to. Sky, this issue caused him long-term. breathing difficulties potentially. contributing to his death two months.

later. She told the Daily Mail, "If you. have shortness of breath for a long. time, that makes you very sick. It's not. something that's an alarming sudden. cause of death. It's something that. wears on you, makes you weak." TMZ also. reported that during the 911 call on the. day that Hogan died, Sky said, "My. husband's not breathing. He just stopped. breathing." So, this would seem to. contrast with the heart attack narrative. in a way, right? Hogan reportedly didn't. have chest pain or a sudden cardiac.

episode, but simply stopped breathing, at least according to this narrative. And adding to all this, adding to the. mystery is that apparently an. occupational therapist was present at. Hogan's home that day. And that. therapist reportedly told police that a. surgeon had severed the frenic nerve. during his recent surgery. This is. according to reporting from TMZ. Sources. say this is detailed in a police report. and recorded in body cam footage that. hasn't been publicly released. And we.

here at Long Prime, we've requested this. footage, but we haven't received it yet. Now, according to the Cleveland Clinic, damage to this nerve can seriously. affect breathing, giving context to why. this potential surgical error has raised. concern. We don't know for sure if. that's what happened, but Sky has been. very public about her intentions, explaining that Hogan has not yet been. cremated. She said the family wants to. complete a medical investigation before. honoring his wishes. So, if you're a fan. of Sidebar, by the way, then you know we.

cover a lot of cases and we put out a. lot of clips a day. And I will tell you, you might be saying, "How are you able. to do that?" Well, we use a platform. called Opus Clip. So, if you're online, if you're on social media, this may be. of interest to you. It is an all-in-one. AI editor that makes it easier and. faster to cut, create, and upload videos. across all social media platforms. Through the power of AI, Opus Clip. automatically generates B-roll. It. cleans up audio, and it refframes your. videos for any platform. It is so easy. to start using. Let me show you how. right now. All you got to do is go to.

opus.prosidebar. You sign up, you upload a video, and in. just a few minutes, you will have tons. of perfectly edited clips ready to go. So whether you're making videos for Tik. Tok or shorts or Instagram res, OpusClip. is your one-stop shop for getting your. best content seen by more viewers across. all these platforms with a press of just. one button. And if you're wondering how. good these AI edited videos are from. OpusClip, just look at our content here. at Law and Crime. Our producers have. used Opus to help us cut and share clips. of some of our biggest trials, and we do.

it very, very quickly. So, at Sidebar, look, we know our listeners have a lot. of opinions and ideas to share, and this. is the most powerful tool there is to. help you edit like a pro and grow your. audience. So, give it a try for. yourself. Go to opus.pro/sidebar. to start creating your own videos today. All right, so before we get into this. new filing, I want to bring on Perry. Fallick, who's a civil and personal. injury attorney, partner at the Morelli. Law Firm based in New York. Um, so happy. to have you on, Perry. Good to see you. again. So, okay, let's start here. How. does an official cause of death when we.

talk about like a natural heart attack, for example, how does that affect. potential civil claims? >> Well, good morning. Thanks for having. me. So, the death certificate is one. piece of evidence that you're going to. potentially use in a civil cause of. action. So, it's not the end all be all. Now, obviously, if I'm a plaintiff's. attorney and I'm bringing a case, I. would love if the death certificate, cause of action, supported my theory of. the case and supported my claims. But a. lot of the time, that's not the case.

And it's something that defendants may. use and they may point to the death. certificate and say, "Hey, look, it says. natural. We didn't do anything wrong. here." But that's just not the facts. That's not true. The medical records. themselves are going to tell the story. of what led to the cause of action. Now. almost every time or most of the time. someone's heart is the stopping is the. last thing that happens before a person. passes away. Now there may be multiple. things that led to that and caused the. heart to stop but cardiac arrest may be. listed as the official cause of death.

but that doesn't mean that the person. died of a heart attack necessarily. >> So in other words it doesn't foreclose. it doesn't preclude the possibility of. someone being able to successfully sue. for medical malpractice or negligence. >> Absolutely not. And I would say the. majority of the time I bring a medical. malpractice case or any case, the death. certificate won't necessarily support. the claim or the theory of the case that. I'm ultimately going to bring. >> If you're dealing with a case where. there's a short time between someone's.

discharge from a hospital, from a. medical facility, and death, does that. automatically raise red flags? >> I would say yes. Especially in this case. where it seemed like there was a day or. 24 hours between it. The question is. going to become what did that medical. facility and in this case a hospital. know or what should they have known. before releasing him home at the time. especially in a 24-hour period like. that? They had him under their care and. supervision. So they should have known. that there was some potential that if.

they released him in 24 hours for. something like this to happen. That's a. huge red flag for me and something I. would point to immediately in in. bringing a claim like this. >> How significant is it that you have the. police department, the Clearwater Police. Department, they're apparently still. investigating this. Um they haven't. released the body cam footage, which. we've talked about a lot during the. course of this story. You have that. going on and then a potential lawsuit. I. mean, how does that affect it? >> I think that's less important than the. red flag we just talked about. I think.

the body cam footage can bring context. There might be some facts in there that. help support a civil claim or a medical. malpractice claim, but ultimately when. you're talking about a medical. malpractice claim, the medical records. are going to carry the day. The expert. medical opinions, the coroner's report. or the medical examiner's report, the. medicine is what you need to support. your case in this situation. Everything. else can help provide context or color. to those claims. But if you don't have. the medicine, if you don't have uh the.

medical negligence, the departure from. the standard of care, you can't bring. the case regardless of what the body cam. footage may say in a case like this. >> By the way, can families request compel. the release of records during a civil. case? >> So, definitely. So, during a civil case, you can always get medical records. the. it's the family or the when there's a. death like this, the representative of. the family, the estate, the. administrator or the executive, they're. always going to be able to request. medical records. And once the litigation.

is started, there's ways to compel. discovery, whether that be through. subpoenas, if the person's not a party. or if it's a party to the case. So, one. of the defendants, for example, a. hospital, a doctor, they're going to be. required to turn over whatever. discoverable information they have, anything that's potentially relevant to. the case is going to have to be turned. over. So, you're going to have the stuff. you compel from the parties and then. things you can compel from outside. parties through a court subpoena. A and.

generally speaking, when we're talking. about this claim of potentially a frenic. nerve injury during a medical procedure, during a surgery, have you ever seen. that factor into a potential medical. malpractice claim? I've never dealt with. a case specifically dealing with that. type of nerve injury. So, it's not. something I've seen, but anything can. support a medical malpractice case, even. if it's a little removed from what. ultimately is the death in this case. So. I believe in this case it was something.

the surgery was maybe in May and passed. away in July. So anytime there's a. departure and that negligence continues. throughout and it's something that. someone is experiencing difficulties. with if it causes the death or causes. for their injury that's going to be the. critical inquiry. Is there causation. here between the type of nerve injury he. suffered? Well, first of all, you have. to prove that he did suffer a nerve. injury. And I know there's speculation. about that now, and there's talk about. that, but the records, like I said.

before, have to bear that out. So, you. have to have the negligence or the the. initial malpractice. And then you're. going to need causation. And the further. removed from the surgery, the death is, it's going to be harder to prove. causation. >> Isn't this just a battle of experts? The. plaintiffs will have their own expert. who say there's causation. The defense. will say no. and then it's up to the. jury at a trial to hash it all out, figure it all out. >> A lot of the times, you're absolutely. correct, especially if the case goes to. trial. Both sides are going to be able. to find experts that say opposing.

theories. And it is up to who the jury. believes. And that's where kind of the. context we talked about earlier and the. body cam footage and if other witnesses. step forward, that's when that evidence. really starts to come into play because. jurors are smart enough that at trial. they're going to understand that the. plaintiff's experts are going to support. their theory and the defendants's. experts are going to support the defense. theory. So you have to paint a picture. for the jury that something not right. happened here and you should believe our. expert because look at all this other.

evidence that supports that theory. Look, for example, in this situation, there's there's talk about people who. came forward to Hulk Hogan's daughter. and and were blowing the whistle on. certain things they didn't like. That. will all help color the situation for. the jury to get them to understand that. the plaintiffs have the correct theory. of the case. >> You mentioned the Brook Hogan, you. mentioned Hulk Hogan's daughter. Let me. just talk about it real quick before we. get into the newest update here. So, uh, she's a very interesting person in all. of this because we heard from her. we.

heard from her uh that professionals. allegedly contacted her directly about. this case. um when she so on August 20th. she posted on Instagram quote fact I've. 100% gotten legit calls from. professionals from police officials to. nurses that were supposedly with my dad. on the day of his death telling me I. need to see body cam footage and I need. to get a hold of the 911 tapes because. they supposedly contain information that. potentially shed enough light to change.

the narrative we I everyone's been. hearing those same professionals feel so. passionately about what they witnessed. they continued to contact me and push me. to find specific answers to this very. day. They are quite literally putting. their careers at risk because they feel. so compelled to do the right thing. Now, she has appeared to soften that because. we reported on this on a previous. episode of Sidebar that she uh told TMZ. and Bubba and Bubba the Love Sponge his. radio show that everyone appears to be.

on the up and up saying to Bubba, "I was. able to see my dad and he looked great. He looked like he was ready for a. pay-per-view wrestling event because she. was able to see the body. She confirmed. to TMZ that she saw incision scars on. his body which showed an autopsy uh was. performed. She was able to say her final. goodbyes. She said that this was very. helpful for her. Quote, "Everybody. appears to be acting in good faith and. doing the right thing. I feel good going. home that I got to see my dad. I got to. see the autopsy done. I know there's. still more investigating to do. From.

what my heart is telling me, everybody's. on the up and up and trying to do their. jobs. But the family has now taken a. formal step to potentially pursue legal. action. Okay, before we get into the. details of that filing, Perry, what is. the legal significance of if this is. true, professionals allegedly contacting. family members directly? I don't, you. know, I don't know what this is about, but it is interesting to say the least. So people the legal significance is.

relative to the what they the. information they have to provide. So. again it's context. I I spoke before. about what the jury sees at the end of. the case. Obviously, if a defendant has. their own employees or their own staff. members relaying information against. them to the plaintiffs, that's a strong. factor in their mind for when they have. to evaluate this case and how to. litigate the case or how hard to defend. the case. So again, the medical.

information, the records, the expert. opinions, that's going to carry the day. in a medical malpractice case. But. still, there's a a lawsuit is a story. being told in the one hand. And if part. of the story that the plaintiffs have is. the defendant's own employees relaying. information or talking about the wrongs. that were committed here, that's a. strong fact in favor of the plaintiff. that the defendants don't want to see. And it may weigh heavily in their minds. on whether they settle the case or. whether they take it to trial because. ultimately they know that what's being.

told during the case, if that comes out. in a deposition or in other discovery, that's something the juryy's going to. see. And ultimately, if you're a lawyer. who's litigating, doing any type of. litigation, you have to be thinking down. the road, if this case goes to trial, what is that going to look like? So. that's really where that's going to come. into play. And obviously the information. that's been coming out has to support. the medical opinions. If it's so. contrary to what the records say, then a. plaintiff's attorney may not put too. much weight on it or may not use it at.

all if they don't think it supports. their theory of the case. >> So now let's move on to the big update. Last week, Hogan's family filed a. petition in Penllis County requesting a. 90-day extension for the statute of. limitations in order to investigate a. possible medical malpractice lawsuit. So, the filing names, Morton Plant. Hospital, where Hogan was pronounced. dead, Tampa General Hospital doctors, Thomas Roush, who is an orthopedic spine. doctor, uh, Gilm H. Oliviera, who.

specializes in cardiology and heart. failure, and quote, any and all other. applicable health care providers. Perry, why is this so significant? Can you. explain what this means exactly to ask. for a petition for an extension here? So, this is interesting because this is. something that's specific to Florida law. and each state when it comes to civil. law or medical malpractice has a. different standard. Generally, I could. say from my experience, most states are. kind of discouraging medical malpractice.

cases, whether that be with the statute. of limitations or caps on damages. Here, what Florida does is they almost have. this pre-suit investigation period in. all medical malpractice cases. So, it's. being reported about this petition as if. it was a very significant step, but in. reality, it's kind of the standard. whenever there's a medical malpractice. uh case going to that's potentially. going to be brought. And the rule. requires there to be pursuit. investigation by the plaintiff's side in. order to two things. Make sure that.

there is a case to be brought because if. during this period they figure out that. there's not a case, the plaintiffs in. theory are not supposed to bring it. after that period. The other thing is. they want to make sure that they're. naming only the proper defendants. So. here they already have a couple. defendants that they know. They know. what hospitals he was treated at. They. know which doctors, but there may be. more people involved. And that's kind of. the purpose of this 90-day period. And. what I think is interesting is that the. rule in Florida during this 90-day. period actually requires the defendants.

also to do their own investigation. And. they're required to go through their. insurance company. They're required to. supposedly do some informal discovery, which I assume means turning over the. medical records to the plaintiff. And in. the end, if they find through the if the. defendants find through their experts. that there is no case and they don't. think that there's a theory the. plaintiffs can bring their case under, they're supposed to turn over either an. affidavit from a doctor or some type of. defense medical opinion to say, "Hey, we. don't think you have a case here." And. the purpose of that is to discourage the.

plaintiffs from bringing the case in the. first instance. So this 90-day period. extends the statute of limitations which. in Florida to bring a medical. malpractice case is 2 years. So they. have the plaintiffs have two years. This. just gives them an extra 90 days during. which they can do an investigation and. figure out what the case is and what the. case isn't. >> Is this petition usually granted? >> Yeah, it seems like in Florida it's a. it's a formality that they're always gr. granted. for those same reasons. It's in.

the court's interest, too, to either. narrow the issues, make sure they have. the proper parties, or to see the case. not brought at all and not waste. judicial resources. When you see who's. being named here, and you're talking. about multiple doctors and hospitals, and by the way, the catchall phrase, any. and all applicable health care. providers, how what does that tell you about how. complex this case is? or what does it. tell you about the level of. responsibility or shared responsibility. or alleged responsibility um about who.

was named here? >> It tells me that it's going to. potentially be a complicated case. Now, if I'm bringing a medical malpractice. case, I always want it to be as clean as. possible. So, the perfect case is you. have one hospital or one doctor. It's. clear one v one. Anytime you start. bringing multiple facilities into the. picture, it tells you you have a. complicated timeline. you have an. individual who is medically compro. compromised in a way that they had to. visit multiple facilities and those. facilities are going to start pointing. the finger at each other too. So what. hospital A is going to say well it was.

hospital B's fault we did everything we. were supposed to do. So now you're. fighting multiple battles in the same. lawsuit, in the same litigation, and. that always makes things more. complicated. And the catchall phrase. that they included here is pretty. common, especially at this early stage. But what that signals is we're not done. with our investigation yet. We think we. know some of the proper parties, but. there may be more parties. Now, that's. not going to stand throughout the. litigation. you have to name specific. parties, but as long as the. investigation is going and they have.

this pre-suit investigation period, they're saying, "We're going to let you. know. We think there may be more people. involved here.". A and does this give you an idea of what. claims might be potentially being. pursued, how strong these claims might. be, what we're looking at as a potential. litigation. It's hard to say from the parties and. hospitals that are named. Again, it. depends once you get those records what. happened at each facility. But if.

everything seems to be based off this. nerve injury, the theory would be that these each. hospital did or didn't do something. regarding that nerve injury to put the. people to put the family on notice or to. help Paul Kogan during this process. where they knew that he had this prior. surgery. So, if the CL if you have to. tie the litigation or the death back to. the initial injury, everybody who had a. chance to help him during that period is. going to be a potential defendant. They're going to say, "You knew or you. should have known that he had this.

surgery. It was in his records and you. knew that there was something not right. here. He was having breathing. difficulties. The the nerve was severed. was one of the claims." Whatever the. records bear out, they're they have to. show causation. So, they have to show. that the death was caused by the initial. injury and what he's been seen by. multiple hospitals throughout who. cleared him and sent him home. It's. going to be a tough hill to to climb. >> Perry Fallick, thanks for coming on. I. mean, this is a interesting but.

complicated update and what is already. an interesting and complicating story. We'll continue to follow it here on. Sidebar. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. See you. next time. [Music].