A Florida jury has awarded Hulk Hogan $115 million in actual damages against Gawker Media, and is deliberating today on the amount of punitive damages. This springs from a lawsuit filed by the Hulkster, whereby Gawker published a video of Hulk having sex with his best friend's wife. (And believe it or not, it was the best friend's idea.)

The trial has been pretty fascinating. But suffice to say, the Gawker staff are really, really creepy people. Especially former Deadspin editor and Gawker editor A. J. DeLaurio, who said he'd publish sex videos of women, and would draw the age line at 4. Yes, DeLaurio said that in a deposition. You talk about an obnoxious dude. He's at least as punchable as alleged senator Rafael Cruz, and that is saying something.

Hogan's best friend, a DJ called Bubba the Love Sponge, apparently said early on that Hulk knew he was being videotaped but changed his story somewhere along the line. Then, when he was about to be called as a witness, he said he was going to plead the Fifth Amendment. I've seen that lots of times in criminal trials, but this is the first time I've heard of it in a civil trial.

So the jury will tell us probably today how much the punitive damages will be. Punitive damages are meant to "punish" the loser and dissuade the loser from ever doing whateve it did again. Usually, punitive damages are much bigger than actual damages, so we might see another $100 million or even $200 million tacked on to this award.

Gawker is going to appeal, mainly because of the lack of Bubba the Love Sponge's appearance. They almost certainly will get the final award reduced, but I doubt they will get the verdict thrown out. So they might not end up owing The Hulkster $100 million or $200 million, but they're going to owe him a whole lot of money regardless.

Bubba the Love Sponge...

While I find Gawker disgusting I do enjoy some Jezebel and io9 stuff. Gonna kinda miss them when the whole thing goes belly up. But Gawker deserves everything they lose on this.

EmmaMcG said:

Well let me tell ya somethin' Mean Gene. That's a lot of GREEN, Brother! Whatcha gonna do when Hulk Hogans sex tape runs WILD on you!?!?

kpowers said:

EmmaMcG said:

Well let me tell ya somethin' Mean Gene. That's a lot of GREEN, Brother! Whatcha gonna do when Hulk Hogans sex tape runs WILD on you!?!?

What is taking so long for Freaks to upload Hulk's Sextapes to all the Popular Porn-sites? R. Kelly & Kim K's sex-tapes are still viewable...

Chancellor said:

EmmaMcG said:

Are you getting impatient? LOL. Don't worry, it won't he long before you see him do his patented leg drop on his friends wife. Hulkamania will run WILD!

..LOL...He'll NEVER see a Penny from that lawsuit so WWE fans might as well get to see the tape...

Chancellor said:

EmmaMcG said:

Are you getting impatient? LOL. Don't worry, it won't he long before you see him do his patented leg drop on his friends wife. Hulkamania will run WILD!

..LOL...He'll NEVER see a Penny from that lawsuit so WWE fans might as well get to see the tape...

Sure hewill. I doubt he'll collect anywhere near $115 million but he will get paid. Remember - the verdict is against both Gawker as a cmpany, and its owner individually.

IMO, the only chance Gawker has on appeal is to get the verdict thrown out because of Bubba the Love Sponge's refusal to testify. But I have been in that exact situation before. We had a co-defendant once who disappeared during the trial and could not be subpoenaed. He didn't do anything wrong, but he was a notorious guy. He would have been a disasterous witness and he knew it. He went underground for about two months. The other side went nuts, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Chancellor said:

EmmaMcG said:

Chancellor said:

..LOL...He'll NEVER see a Penny from that lawsuit so WWE fans might as well get to see the tape...

I don't know why anybody would want to see that tape. What is he, 70 years old? I bet he went soft halfway through and had to "Hulk up"

EmmaMcG said:

Chancellor said:

..LOL...He'll NEVER see a Penny from that lawsuit so WWE fans might as well get to see the tape...

I don't know why anybody would want to see that tape. What is he, 70 years old? I bet he went soft halfway through and had to "Hulk up"

Honestly I wouldn't want to see a Hulk Hogan sex tape at ANY age

kpowers said:

EmmaMcG said:

kpowers said:

Honestly I wouldn't want to see a Hulk Hogan sex tape at ANY age

That goes without saying, but ESPECIALLY at his age now. He just wouldn't have the stamina. He'd need Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to tag in while he takes a rest. Ok, that's all the wrestling jokes I'll make on this.

Oh god you messing up my brain now

Wrestlers always have Hot wives..Hulk Loves Hot Blondes and I can only imagine how his Bud's wife looks..A lot of Healthy, in-shape elderly people still get down...

RodeoSchro said:

Sure hewill. I doubt he'll collect anywhere near $115 million but he will get paid. Remember - the verdict is against both Gawker as a cmpany, and its owner individually.

IMO, the only chance Gawker has on appeal is to get the verdict thrown out because of Bubba the Love Sponge's refusal to testify. But I have been in that exact situation before. We had a co-defendant once who disappeared during the trial and could not be subpoenaed. He didn't do anything wrong, but he was a notorious guy. He would have been a disasterous witness and he knew it. He went underground for about two months. The other side went nuts, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Ok, he'll prolly get the $10 Million in (individual) punitive damages..That's about it...

Chancellor said:

RodeoSchro said:

Sure hewill. I doubt he'll collect anywhere near $115 million but he will get paid. Remember - the verdict is against both Gawker as a cmpany, and its owner individually.

IMO, the only chance Gawker has on appeal is to get the verdict thrown out because of Bubba the Love Sponge's refusal to testify. But I have been in that exact situation before. We had a co-defendant once who disappeared during the trial and could not be subpoenaed. He didn't do anything wrong, but he was a notorious guy. He would have been a disasterous witness and he knew it. He went underground for about two months. The other side went nuts, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Ok, he'll prolly get the $10 Million in (individual) punitive damages..That's about it...

I think you have to award actual damages before you can award punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded to punish the loser and keep them from ever doing what caused the actual damages again.

At least, that's how it works in Texas.

Gawker can argue on appeal that the award is too high, but no matter what they say I don't think they can get the award down to zero. After all, the foundation of our legal system is a jury of your peers, and a jury of peers awarded Hulk Hogan $115 million in actual damages. To throw that out would be to, in effect, say that the jury system is worthless. You don't see that kind of ruling very often.

Having been down a road similar to this myself, I don't see a lot of options for Gawker. The best they can hope for, IMHO, is to bargain with Hogan and get the award down to an amount they can pay without making them go out of business.

Keep in mind, Nick Denton is personally on the hook for some (or all? Not sure) of the award. Hulk has Denton's nuts in a vise right now.

breakdown2k14 said:

..There's Pete Rose, Bill Cosby and now Hulkamania...To get Hulk reinstated into the Hall of Fame all it takes is a campaign from his fellow Wrestlers and the Legions of WWE Fans. Hulk apologized Publicly, he appears sincere and he deserves a 2nd chance...On another note, Hulk was sporting the Doo-rag long before I sported mine behind bedroom doors...(don't ask)...