The jury hit the media company with 25 million dollars in punitive damages
Hulk Hogan, the former professional wrestler declared before a string of reporters that he and his lawyers had made history after being awarded 25 million dollars in punitive damages in the sex tape trial. The Jury slapped Gawker Media and its founder with the damages for publishing a sex tape of the wrestler.
Hogan further declared on Monday that the sex tape case and its verdict had protected a lot more people from going through what he had to go through.
The 62 year old star was smiling all over. He said that his fans had provided unconditional support all along the way. He said:
“Everywhere I show up, people treat me like I’m still the champ,” he said
The Jury hit Gawker Media with 15 million dollars and its founder and owner Nick Denton with another 10 million dollars. As assessment of a hundred thousand dollars was also made again the editor at the Gawker Media, A.J. Daulerio who had made the decision to post the edited sex tape. Daulerio had also written the post that had accompanied the tape.
American wrestler Hulk Hogan had sued Gawker Media when it posted a sex tape in which he was seen having sex with the wife of his best friend.
Hogan said that he had no idea that a tape was being made. The general council of Gawker Media said that the establishment expects the award to be overturned when they go to the appeals court.
In an e-mail sent on Monday, Heather Dietrick stated that the jury was not allowed to know the prior ruling in favor of the media company. They were also not shown the evidence collected by the FBI, and were also not allowed to hear Bubba Clem, a very important witness in the case. Heather further stated that she was confident that her company will win the case.
Hulk Hogan’s lawyer had requested the Jury to add punitive damages to the judgment of 115 million dollars, however, the lawyer of Gawker Media pleaded that the current verdict was already devastating to the company. One of the jurors said that he believed Hulk Hogan’s privacy was severely violated.
