Judge Rules John Travolta Can't Stop Alleged Gay Lover from Telling All

It looks like Simon Cowell isn't the only one getting outed in a court of law. A California appeals court judge has officially ruled that John Travolta can not legally prevent ex-employee Douglas Gotterba from spilling the beans about their alleged gay love affair.

This entire mess started when Gotterba was interviewed by The National Enquirer about plans to release a book about his alleged affair with Travolta, at which point Travolta’s attorney sent cease-and-desist letters claiming Gotterba was in breach of a confidentiality provision in his original, written termination agreement. Gotterba had worked for Alto, Travolta’s aircraft company, throughout the 1980s. It was a six-year working relationship that reportedly ended with the aforementioned termination agreement in 1987. But Gotterba claims that, over the course of those six years, the relationship grew into something much more intimate. As the National Enquirer claims, despite 25 years having passed since the alleged affair, Gotterba has decided, for whatever reason, that it's time to “tell the story of his life and those involved in it.”

Naturally, Travolta and his lawyer have claimed Gotterba's confidentiality documents are inauthentic, citing that the paperwork in question was from an early draft of the agreement. Gotterba fought back by suing Travolta and Alto to determine which termination agreement was valid, and whether or not confidentiality could be legally enforced.

Further details from Entertainment Weekly:

However, a special California law created to protect First Amendment rights continued the legal back and forth—Alto responded with an anti-SLAPP motion asserting Travolta’s right to petition and further questioned whether or not Gotteba’s lawsuit was based upon the cease-and-desist letters alone, or the larger confidentiality disagreement. On Tuesday, California appeals court Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert ruled in Gotteba’s favor, stating that the lawsuit was based on “the validity of the asserted termination agreements.” According to court documents, Gilbert added, “Although the prelitigation letters may have triggered Gotterba’s complaint and may be evidence in support of the complaint, they are not the basis of the complaint.”

Gilbert concluded that if Travolta had won, the decision “would lead to the absurd result that a person receiving a demand letter threatening legal action for breach of contract would be precluded from seeking declaratory relief to determine the validity of the contract. Declaratory relief would be limited to situations where the parties have not communicated their disagreement.”

So Gotterba will be allowed to tell his story as he sees fit, whether it's through a book or an interview with media. Of course, that doesn't preclude the rest of the world from deciding it's all a bunch of baloney. But the court of public opinion is often fickle as hell, so it's hard to know just how credible Gotterba's story is until we hear it. On the plus side, this should help everyone forget about that whole Adele Dazeem fiasco.

Via: Entertainment Weekly

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