Just about everything related to the Hogan/Gawker story is unusual, to put it mildly, but “unusual, to put it mildly” seems to have been Gawker’s journalistic focus since its inception, hence the name. ![]() Gawker has already announced its plans to appeal the verdict, and either a reversal on the law or on the size of damages is certainly possible, but the verdict certainly puts the company’s financial vitality in question (Gawker even went out and secured outside financing specifically because of the Hogan trial), and should send shivers down the spines of online outlets who work in the same type of no-holds-barred, up-to-the minute celebrity reportage as Gawker.īut that said, what should we really take as the net effects of the Hogan suit? Is this part of a reversal of the tide against what some perceive as an unjustified free-for-all legal environment when it comes to online free speech and decency? Or is this merely a soon-to-be-reversed runaway Florida jury giving an outsized verdict to a hometown hero (Hogan had “only” asked for $100 million) and making an example of what it perceived to be a big city gossip rag who had crossed the line (and whose founder had seemed to suggest that he would publish child sex tapes) into moral bankruptcy? A Bizarre Love Triangle Right Up Gawker’s Alley Essentially, it’s the kind of verdict that can put even a sizable company with 250 employees out of business ( Gawker is valued at $83 million total), and thus the kind of legal development that companies with any kind of media presence need to sit up and ponder. ![]() To put things in perspective, $140 million is about twice the domestic box office take of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, or equivalent to 350 years of President Obama’s current salary. Lest you think that last week’s post about Lindsay Lohan’s right of publicity claim against the makers of Grand Theft Auto was clickbait of marginal legal significance (I’m shocked, shocked by such accusations…), since that post, a Florida jury has awarded $140 million in compensatory and punitive damages to one Terry Bollea, more well known as professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, in his right of publicity suit against Gawker media for publishing excerpts online of a sex tape recorded of him in 2012.
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