Hulk Hogan has won his lawsuit against Gawker. The wrestler was awarded $115million in damages by a jury in Florida after the website posted a leaked sex video that showed him engaging in intercourse with his best friend's wife.
The jury awarded Hogan $55million for economic injuries and $60million for emotional distress.
Hogan broke down in tears in the courtroom as the foreman read the jury's verdict.
Gawker will appeal the case, but under Florida law will have to hand over the monetary damages.
Gawker founder Nick Denton said outside the courthouse following the verdict; 'Given key evidence and the most important witness were both improperly withheld from this jury, we all knew the appeals court will need to resolve the case.
'I want to thank our lawyers for their outstanding work and am confident that we would have prevailed at trial if we had been allowed to present the full case to the jury.
'That’s why we feel very positive about the appeal that we have already begun preparing, as we expect to win this case ultimately.'
Hogan did not speak to reporters but did post on Twitter Friday evening, writing; 'Told ya I was gonna slam another giant HH.'
This was in reference to the opening statement his lawyer made, during which he stated that one of Hogan's greatest accomplishments in his life was when he bodyslammed Andre the Giant in 1987 at WrestleMania III.
This despite the fact that the match was completely choreographed ahead of time.
The six-person jury took just five hours to deliberate on Friday, and found in favor of Hogan on all counts.
Hogan and his team had only been asking for $100million in their lawsuit for invasion of his privacy.
Denton and editor A.J. Daulerio sat emotionless in the courtroom while the jury read out the verdict. The two men were both found personally liable in the case.
Gawker posted the two-minute video in 2012 after editing down a 30-minute version they received from an anonymous source that had been taped showing Hogan and Heather Cole engaging in intercourse in July of 2007.
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, said he did not know the encounter was caught on camera.
He also said during the trial he had his lawyers ask Gawker to take down the tape and told them they could still keep their copy about the contents, but they refused.
Then, after Hogan filed his lawsuit, a judge asked Gakwer to take down the video.
The site published an article soon after with the headline; 'A Judge Told Us to Take Down Our Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Post. We Won't.'
They wrote in the post; 'We publish all manner of stories here. Some are serious, some are frivolous, some are dumb. I am not going to make a case that the future of the Republic rises or falls on the ability of the general public to watch a video of Hulk Hogan f****** his friend's ex-wife.
'But the Constitution does unambiguously accord us the right to publish true things about public figures.
'And Campbell's order requiring us to take down not only a very brief, highly edited video excerpt from a 30-minute Hulk Hogan f******session but also a lengthy written account from someone who had watched the entirety of that fucking session, is risible and contemptuous of centuries of First Amendment jurisprudence.'
The video was eventually removed from the site.
Lawyers for the site had argued that the video was a legitimate news story covered by the First Amendment given how frequently Hogan talked about his sex life in the media.
Hogan and his lawyer's argued that he was doing this as a character, and using 'artistic liberty.'
Gawker's lawyers also said during the trial that they made no money off the video, as it ran without advertisements despite the fact that is was streamed millions of times after being posted on the site.
Experts for Hogan however argued that the site in general received a surge in traffic after posting the video.
Gawker made it clear they planned to appeal the case, and expected to lose, when they stated prior to the verdict being delivered that they did not receive a fair trial.
They pointed out that the man who made the video, Hogan's former best friend Bubba the Love Sponge, never testified in court.
Cole also did not testify, though a deposition she gave in 2015 played for jurors earlier this week.
In her deposition an emotional Cole said she had no idea that she was being taped while having sex with Hogan, a statement that contradicts claims she made to Tampa police and comments she made on one of the sex tapes.
There were three sex tapes of Cole and Hogan, and it was the second one that Gawker edited and published.
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| HOGAN FILMED THE TAPE WITH HEATHER COLE HIS BEST FRIEND'S WIFE |
In the third tape, made at an unknown date, Cole and her husband acknowledge that the sex was filmed, with Cole telling her husband after Hogan leaves the bedroom; 'His dick hurt so f****** bad. You'll probably just see my face squirming. I just tried to get past the pain to enjoy it.'
She made this comment after her husband said he wanted to watch the tape. On that tape that two also talk about being able to blackmail Hogan with the tape because he repeatedly uses racial slurs while discussing his daughter Brooke's boyfriend.
The couple had an open marriage Cole testified in her deposition, and she admitted that her husband had previously taped her having sex with other men.
Cole said that her husband showed her the 30-minute sex video several weeks after one encounter with Hogan at their home.
'I immediately asked for it to stop,' she said in her deposition.
'I don't remember a specific conversation. I do remember feeling very upset.'
Hogan's lawyer Ken Turkel told the jury in hius closing statement that Gawker couldn't hide behind the First Amendment and that even as a celebrity Hogan was entitled to privacy.
He said they could have done the 'decent thing' and not invaded Hogan's privacy.
'They don't deserve the protection of the First Amendment,' said Turkel.
He accused Gawker staff of being a 'bunch of kids' who had little regard for the effect their posts had on people.
'This mocking of Mr Bollea. They had no idea he was at the lowest point of his life,' he said.
'Did they know the tape was secret? They spent days joking about it, mocking his anatomy hid character..
'Is this serious journalism to be protected by the First Amendment.'
Turkel said Gawker had even failed to call Hogan or his PR representative to ask for a comment before publishing the tape.
'They did not have the common decency to call one person involved,' he said. 'They don't deserve the protection of the First Amendment.'
Turkel reserved most of his scorn for Denton and showed the jury clippings from interviews where he had said invasion of privacy was liberating.
'Gawker is a reflection of its owner,' he said. 'Who it is a good thing to invade people's privacy. It defines the whole reason he is here.'
Turkel said Daulerio was simply carrying out his boss's philosophy for the site when he published the sex tape.
'He is golden child,' he said.
The lawyer reminded the jury that Daulerio had testified under oath that he would run a sex tape of a child provided they were over the age of five.
Daulerio later clarified the remarks saying it was flippant but Terkel said it showed he 'did not care'.
Turkel said he had arrived at the $50m damages figure by estimating that people would pay $4.95 to view a sex tape and multiply that by the estimated 7m people who viewed the story.
He also added $15m that he claims Gawker made from selling advertising.
Gawker's lawyer Michael Sullivan told the jury in his closing argument they should watch the video of Hogan having sex on the tape as it was the one piece of evidence that had not been presented by the wrestler's legal team.
'He has avoided showing you the one video that is critical to this case,' said Sullivan. The trial continues.
Gawker's lawyer suggested to the jury that Hogan was aware he was being filmed when he had sex with Cole.
He asked if it was another 'celebrity sex scandal' that had been cooked up between Hogan and his friend Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.
'Was this a work between Bubba and Hulk Hogan,' he said.
'Was it a publicity stunt? Only two people know, Hulk Hogan and Bubba the Love Sponge. And Bubba is not here.'
He told the jury Hogan could be heard on the tape saying to Bubba 'is this being filmed?' before he had sex with Clem.
Sullivan also mocked Hogan's claims that he suffered severe emotional distress from Gawker running a short excerpt from the sex tape.
He reminded the jury that Hogan said he had sex with Clem at the lowest point in his life and added: 'He was so low he succumbed to the wiles of Heather Clem, three or four times.'
The lawyer said Hogan was so upset that he went on a media tour to talk about the sex tape.
He pointed out that when another website ran still photos from the tape he did not sue.
The jury listened as Mr Sullivan said Hogan happily talked about his sex life and said they would be hard pushed to find anyone other than a porn star who was so open about what they got up to in the bedroom.
Sullivan said as the sex tape was already being talked about Gawker had every right to show the short clip with their article.
Sullivan ended his closing speech by saying the Gawker legal team had a harder job in mounting the defense but added: 'Ultimately it is right.'
He asked the jury to put aside any negative feelings they had for Gawker and said even pornography and the Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show was protected under the First Amendment and freedom of speech.
The jury retired after hearing legal direction from the judge and four hours of closing arguments.
DailyMail
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