Gawker Media has been hit with another $15 million in punitive damages in the Hulk Hogan court case.
The media company, responsible for sites such as, Gawker, Life Hacker, Jezebel and Gizmodo, was ordered to pay the additional $15 million on top of the $115 million already awarded to Hogan.
CEO and founder Nick Denton has also been ordered to pay an additional $10 million out of his own pocket.
The damages were awarded to Hogan after a jury decided that the media company had violated Hogan’s privacy by publishing a video of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife in 2012. The punitive damages were awarded as a punishment to the company and are intended to deter other media companies from committing the offence.
The media company will appeal the decision.
Following the announcement of punitive damages, President & general counsel of Gawker Media, Heather Dietrick released a statement saying:
“Soon after Hulk Hogan brought his original lawsuits in 2012, three state appeals court judges and a federal judge repeatedly ruled that Gawker’s post was newsworthy under the First Amendment. We expect that to happen again — particularly because the jury was prohibited from knowing about these court rulings in favor of Gawker, prohibited from seeing critical evidence gathered by the FBI and prohibited from hearing from the most important witness, Bubba Clem,” Dietrick said.
“There is so much this jury deserved to know and, fortunately, that the appeals court does indeed know. So we are confident we will win this case ultimately based on not only on the law but also on the truth,” she concluded.
