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In response to the news that a secretary who had been fired for allegedly leaking Jason Pierre-Paul’s medical records to ESPN has sued the hospital, a lot of you (OK, some of you . . . OK, none of you) have asked for an update on Pierre-Paul’s lawsuit against ESPN and Adam Schefter.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the case will go to court on August 25 for a hearing on the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, along with their motion for sanctions against Pierre-Paul for filing it.

Stop and think about that one for a second. ESPN and Schefter published to the world Pierre-Paul’s medical records, he took legal action because of it, and now they want him to be sanctioned in court for doing so.

The question of whether the case will be dismissed likely turns on whether the judge sees a distinction between reporting the fact that Pierre-Paul had his right index finger amputated and displaying to the public an improperly-disclosed medical record confirming the surgical procedure that resulted in the amputation.

In the latest brief filed by ESPN and Schefter, they argue that medical privacy laws protect not the records themselves but the information contained in them. Thus, with multiple outlets reporting that Pierre-Paul was having his finger amputated (and with the finger actually amputated), publishing the actual medical record confirming the amputation doesn’t violate Pierre-Paul’s rights in any way.

Regardless of whether ESPN and Schefter prevail in the lawsuit, they’ll surely admit that publishing the medical record gained them nothing other than a headache that will continue to linger at least through the end of August, if not beyond. If they get their way, the headache will spread back to Pierre-Paul, who would be required to pay the legal fees they incur in defending against his lawsuit.