Hulk Hogan Awarded $115 Million in Gawker Sex Tape Case

[LordLundar]

Their is's much I can say that I haven't said in a previous thread. Some new info I got from a friend of mine who is an appellate lawyer says Gawker is legally required to pay all 115 million before going to appeal.

Ordinarily you are correct but Florida law (which is where the lawsuit was presided in) has a $50 million cap on the bond.

 

[Lightknight]

While I am certainly happy to see them lose this battle, $115million is incredibly extreme. No way he can claim that in damages and even punitive damages shouldn't go that high.

That's what happens when you not only refuse a judge's order, but publish an article practically saying "suck it, judge".
They got what was coming to them.

Your avatar makes me sea sick almost immediately. Good work.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Glad I already found some good alternatives to io9.com when they began to lose talent last year.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I've always liked Hogan and I looked at the whole thing this way:

Yes he said "a bad word", but his marriage was breaking up and he was about to plow his friend's wife.

At the worst, he's an old racist but kept it to himself and never led it be evident in his work in dealing with black people and even training up black wrestlers.
At the best, he was a man whose entire career was built around him being this larger than life symbol and events were happening in his life that he had no control over and in a moment of weakness and awkwardness he said some stupid shit to sound like a "big man".

The whole thing was, as you alluded to, a man under immense pressure in a private moment venting said pressure. Is he racist? According to a lot of the people of color who've worked with him, apparently not. But it was the pressure of WWE's status as a publicly traded company that forced them into a position of having to let him go. I'm 99% sure the higher ups did not want to fire him, but they had to trade Hogan for PR. Best for business.
I don't hold his comments against him, and I feel the court's decision was correct. Gawker clearly was in the wrong, as was the douchebag "friend" who made the tape available to them. I really feel bad for the guy and I hope in the end things get cleared away and he is able to have his legacy again.

 

[Otaku World Order]

Now Hogan gets to spray paint "nWo" on the back of Gawker's CEO.

 

[Lightknight]

I've always liked Hogan and I looked at the whole thing this way:

Yes he said "a bad word", but his marriage was breaking up and he was about to plow his friend's wife.

At the worst, he's an old racist but kept it to himself and never led it be evident in his work in dealing with black people and even training up black wrestlers.
At the best, he was a man whose entire career was built around him being this larger than life symbol and events were happening in his life that he had no control over and in a moment of weakness and awkwardness he said some stupid shit to sound like a "big man".

The whole thing was, as you alluded to, a man under immense pressure in a private moment venting said pressure. Is he racist? According to a lot of the people of color who've worked with him, apparently not. But it was the pressure of WWE's status as a publicly traded company that forced them into a position of having to let him go. I'm 99% sure the higher ups did not want to fire him, but they had to trade Hogan for PR. Best for business.
I don't hold his comments against him, and I feel the court's decision was correct. Gawker clearly was in the wrong, as was the douchebag "friend" who made the tape available to them. I really feel bad for the guy and I hope in the end things get cleared away and he is able to have his legacy again.

Actually, and this might be crass, but I'm not so sure racism would hurt the WWE's image. I mean... unless I've got their average clientele totally wrong...

Which I might, I've never been to a show. I just remember seeing it in passing a few times as a kid back when you had to flip through the channels and there were only 30 of them or whatever.

 

[LordLundar]

They don't have that either. They MIGHT have a fifth of that on hand. Probably only a tenth. So instead of almost 50% of the company they'll have to give him almost 25%.

You're part right. They don't have nearly that amount available without some severe liquidation efforts. You are mistaken in that it is the amount they have to pay. The $50 million is for the bond if they want to appeal. If they won't (or can't), then they have to cough up the full amount as a payment.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

As an update, the jury decided to award $25 million as punitive damages, so the new total is $140 million.

Source [http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/21/hulk-hogan-gawker-lawsuit-sex-tape-punitive-damages]

Also, according to this article [http://heavy.com/news/2016/03/gawker-net-worth-can-it-afford-hulk-hogan-verdict-appeal-how-pay-lawsuit-revenue-columbus-nova/], Gawker brings in $45 million dollars a year in revenue, so even the $50 million would require some liquidation even if they somehow were able to directly access an entire year's worth of revenue at once.

 

[Politrukk]

Well done legal team.

You can care for Bolea or hate the man but this was a very righteous cause and I'm glad he's won it.
The Gawker guys were too arrogant in their way of handling the situation and showed no remorse for their actions, they only wanted to get away with it and create an example for future cases.

Well that example has been set and god bless how that came to pass.

 

[Strazdas]

glad to hear Hogan got justice served for once. Looks like Gawker is going to struggle with this one, they finally managed to kick themselves in the face. And judging from the court proceedings, they seem to have wanted to do so.

for people that like comedy heres a complete court proceeding, filmed: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoW1SIeAWaWZuZGokzrYzGdQDIbLDR-T8