Breaking: Jury Awards Hulk Hogan $115M in Damages in Gawker Libel Suit
Just coming in: the jury has sided with Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit against Gawker for publishing a sex tape, and awarded him $115 million in compensatory damages.
JUST IN: Jury awards Hulk Hogan $115 million in damages, finds Gawker violated his privacy by posting a sex clip pic.twitter.com/KR3WCOzwt6
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 18, 2016
This is going to send shivers down the spine of the US journalism business. As someone who’s been dishonestly slimed by them myself, I’m not crying for Gawker, but the implications for the media business are huge.
I assume Gawker will now appeal this verdict, because this award is wildly excessive; gigantic enough to end them.
Statement from @gawker founder: on to the appeals court pic.twitter.com/VXGzeqXTP8
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 18, 2016
And of course, Rage Furby Chuck C. Johnson is trying to claim credit (as he does for almost every breaking news story), even though he had absolutely nothing to do with it, and his own spurious suit against Gawker was thrown out of court.