The Tennessean reports that Andrews originally sought $75 million in damages.
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Attorneys for the Marriott argued that Barrett should be exclusively held responsible.
On Friday, a judge found Barrett at fault.
The jurors also saw 4 1/2 minutes of video Barrett secretly recorded of Andrews nude in her hotel room on September 4, 2008, while she prepared for a Thursday night Vanderbilt University football game, and a 6-second clip he recorded of her in February 2008 at a hotel on Ohio State University’s campus. The video of her changing in her hotel room, taken by Micheal David Barrett, circulated quickly around the internet and was eventually posted online. Either I get a tweet, or somebody makes a comment in the paper, or somebody sends me a still of the video to my Twitter, or somebody screams it at me in the stands. The former delivery truck driver testified during the trial that his motivation for filming Andrews was financial, and that he was “not proud” of what he had done.
In the civil case against Barrett and the Nashville Marriott in Tennessee, the United States journalist claimed the hotel was negligent by giving Barrett a room next to hers at his request in 2008.
Her stalker is now serving a two years prison sentence for the crime after pleading guilty to stalking.
“I feel so ashamed”, she said in her testimony. Had she known that, she said she would’ve called police.
A jury awarded the verdict to Andrews on Monday, saying the stalker and two hotel companies were to blame. Her stalker sure doesn’t have $28 million.
Testimony varied on how Barrett knew where Andrews was staying, and whether a hotel employee told Barrett which room Andrews was in and then allowed him to reserve a room next to hers. In his videotaped deposition, he said he alone was to blame. The hotel, the lawyers said, also should have alerted Andrews that someone had asked to sleep next door. When the hotel complied, he was able to see her room number displayed on the phone, and after ascertaining that there was an empty room next to hers, he went to the front desk and was able to book it.
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In his closing statement, Andrews’s attorney, Bruce Broillet, said, “Right from the beginning they gave out information that they shouldn’t have and multiple hotel witnesses in this case admitted that was a violation”. The only reason he picked Andrews, he said, was because she was popular and he saw she was trending on Yahoo.
