NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Hulk Hogan-Gawker jury awards $25M in punitive damages

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

Moments after a Florida jury hit Gawker Media and its founder with $25 million in punitive damages for publishing a sex tape of Hulk Hogan, the former pro wrestler told a gaggle of reporters that he and his legal team “made history.”

Hogan said Monday evening that he thought “we’ve protected a lot of people from going through what I went through.”

The smiling 62-year-old, who wore all black throughout the three-week trial, added that he’s been overwhelmed with support by fans.

“Everywhere I show up, people treat me like I’m still the champ,” he said.

On Monday, the jury hit Gawker Media with a $15 million judgment and its owner, Nick Denton, with $10 million.

It also assessed $100,000 against A.J. Daulerio, the Gawker editor who decided to post the edited sex video and wrote the post that accompanied it.

The punitive damages come on top of $115 million the jury imposed Friday after two weeks of trial.

Judge: Accusers can see case file from earlier Cosby case

philadelphia

A federal judge has ruled that attorneys for seven women suing Bill Cosby for defamation can see much of the case file of a lawyer for the accuser in a 2005 sexual assault lawsuit against the comedian.

Judge Anita Brody on Monday rejected a request from Cosby to block a subpoena for the file of former Temple University employee Andrea Constand’s lawyer.

Constand reached a confidential settlement with Cosby in the civil case. Late last year, Pennsylvania prosecutors charged Cosby criminally in the purported assault on Constand.

Brody ruled that the confidential agreement between Cosby and Constand “cannot block the disclosure of those materials to third parties in discovery.”

Associated Press