In a failed bid to challenge a $140 million lawsuit against them, a Florida judge rejected a motion for retrial filed by Gawker Media on Wednesday (May 25). The plaintiff in the case, Terry G. Bollea, known to the world as Hulk Hogan, will be able to keep the full nine figure settlement he won in the March 18 judgement, judge Pamela Campbell ruled. Lawyers for the defendant had attempted to discredit the jury's objectivity, arguing to no avail, that documents sealed by the judge overseeing the trial should have been made available for their review.
In 2012, Gawker posted a clip from a grainy sex tape it had recovered, supposing to show Hogan fornicating with Heather Clem, the wife of friend and radio show host Todd Alan Clem. In April of 2013 the media outlet refused to comply with a cease-and-desist order demanding that they remove the video from their website, proclaiming it their First Amendment right to share the material because Hogan had freely discussed his sex life in public, which they claimed signified him giving up his right to privacy. The jury sided with Hulk, awarding him for damages resulting from defamation to the tune of $60 million for emotional distress, $55 million for economic distress, and $25 million for punitive costs.
Gawker's defense attempted to use news that surfaced on Tuesday, accusing Hogan of collaborating with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel to help finance his case, against the defamed wrestling great. But the judge did not bite, dismissing the copies of Forbes and The New York Times supplied to her as "not healthy," stating: "I don't like looking at all the stuff that's published out there."
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
