ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.–A jury has sided with ex-pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and awarded him $115 million in his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media.
The jurors reached the decision Friday evening, less than six hours after they began deliberations. The trial lasted two weeks.
Hogan, whose given name is Terry Bollea, sued Gawker for $100 million for posting a video in 2012 of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife. Hogan contended it was a violation of his privacy.
Gawker’s editors contended the video and an accompanying post was a newsworthy commentary on the ordinariness of celebrity sex videos. The attorneys also told the jury that the video is “not like a real celebrity sex tape” and urged them to watch the video, which contains nine seconds of sexual content.
Hogan’s attorneys told jurors that the core of the case is that “Gawker took a secretly recorded sex tape and put it on the Internet.”
They said Hogan didn’t consent to the video, that Gawker didn’t follow usual journalism procedures before posting it, and that the video wasn’t newsworthy. Hogan didn’t ask for this to happen, lawyer Kenneth Turkel said.
