The sportscaster’s original suit asked for $75 million from the owner and operator of the Nashville, Tennessee, hotel where she was staying, and Michael David Barrett, the stalker who used a hacksaw to tamper with her room’s peephole and record the video in 2008.
Advertisement
A jury has awarded Erin Andrew $55 million in a lawsuit over a secretly recorded nude video.
The Fox Sports reporter and “Dancing With the Stars” co-host broke down in tears when jurors announced the verdict.
Barrett was able to film Andrews, who was naked in her room, by removing the peephole from her door and pointing his cell phone camera into her room.
Barrett, who posted the footage of Andrews online, had previously pleaded guilty to stalking and was sentenced to prison time.
“Her career skyrocketed, her career went up, so from our perspective, none of the benchmarks that would indicate a serious mental injury existed”, said one of the lawyers. They said staff never verified Barrett’s request for a room adjoining Andrews’ and allowed Barrett to find Andrews’ room.
This happens every day of my life. “I’ve been honored by all the support from victims around the world”, she wrote.
Attorneys for the hotel, led by Dedman and Brent Usery of Spicer Rudstrom law firm in Nashville, argued at trial that Barrett alone was to blame and said the hotel companies could not be held responsible for his criminal actions. He admitted to doing so in hotels in Columbus, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in addition to one in Nashville.
Dr. Kimberly Brown evaluated Andrews for the defense and said the 37-year-old had a lot of distress caused by the video.
A forensic computer expert estimated that the video of Andrews has been seen by 16.8 million people to date, and that statistic, among other things has caused Erin Andrews to develop PTSD. Had she known that, she said she would’ve called police.
Barrett said he posted the recordings online after celebrity gossip website TMZ refused to buy them.
Advertisement
The incident at the Nashville Marriott -which occurred eight years ago, when Andrews was 29 – wasn’t the only time that Andrews’ privacy was allegedly violated by Barrett. The only reason he picked Andrews, he said, was because she was popular and he saw that she was trending on Yahoo.
