“So we are confident we will win this case ultimately based on not only on the law but also on the truth”, she concluded.
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The six-person jury ordered the website to pay $15 million in punitive damages, while its British founder, Nick Denton, must pay an additional $10 million. “I think we made history today because I think we protected a lot of people from maybe going through what I went through”.
“I believe his privacy was violated and that’s not OK”, she said.
The $25 million awarded Monday during the punitive damages phase was much less than the jury could have awarded.
Attorneys for both sides convened Monday morning at the Pinellas County Judicial Building to determine jury instructions for the trial’s second phase.
From the size of the punitive award, it was clear that the jury wanted to punish Gawker even more. The $115 million awarded to Hogan “exceeds the value of the entire company by $30 million”, Berry said.
Jurors have “an ability to send a message”, Mr Turkel said, adding that Gawker acted with reckless disregard when it posted an edited version of the sex video. Didn’t the jury deserve to know the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovered multiple tapes of Hulk Hogan having sex with Bubba’s wife? Denton (who owns a controlling stake in Gawker Media) is worth $121 million, and Daulerio “has no assets but owes $27,000 in student loans”.
Gawker was sued in 2012 by Bollea for publishing footage of Bollea having sex with the wife of his friend. They contained transcripts of depositions and conversations that indicated that Hogan may not have been as upset about the sex tape as he let on. Now they will decide whether to tack on an additional amount in punitive damages. This could be a big key for Gawker’s appeal, as they show that Hogan’s emotional distress (a big part of his claim against Gawker) was in regard to something that the website did not mention or report on.
Gawker said it plans to appeal, highlighting previously-sealed documents related to an FBI investigation into the creation and distribution of the sex tape that were released to the public late Friday while the jury deliberated. The decision came after only about three hours of deliberations.
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Still, Hogan was happy.
