Entry #2 - More money, more problems.

Continuing off of our previous entry- $45 million dollars in revenue does indeed sound nice... enticing, even. But, with more money comes more problems. It looks like our friends at Gawker Media ran into some big trouble very recently. They had the wrestling match of a lifetime. Except, the match was held in a courtroom, and they weren't actually wrestling. I'm not much of a fighter at all, (except with my boyfriend), but if $140,000,000 dollars were on the line, I'd definitely go down swinging- courtroom or not.


On October 4, 2012, AJ Daulerio, former editor for Gawker, posted an article titled, 

"The 30-minute video, apparently filmed in 2007 and later provided to Gawker, garnered five million page views when it was posted in an abridged version on the site in 2012 and 2.5 million views on other sites that posted it subsequently, Mr. Bollea’s lawyer said. In posting the video, he continued, Gawker allowed the public to watch Mr. Bollea having sex in a private bedroom without his knowledge or consent." (The New York Times)

Terry Bollea, (professionally known as Hulk Hogan),  filed many cease and desist requests in Florida court, and Gawker replied by posting another article titled, "A Judge Told Us to Take Down Our Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Post. We Won't."

Terry then went on to file a lawsuit in federal court against Gawker Media for violation of privacy and intentional inflicted emotional distress. He demanded $100 million in damages. This was an interesting case, because according to the New York Times, "Mr. Bollea (demanded) that Gawker pay a severe price for the intimate invasion and (said) that the privacy of every American is at risk. Gawker (said) that if Mr. Bollea’s claims prevail, the nation’s hallowed press freedoms could be crippled."

On April 24, 2013, Pamela Campbell, a Florida circuit court judge, ordered that Gawker remove all content surrounding the video from their website. While they ultimately disagreed with the order, they chose to remove the video but keep the narrative up. Gawker also claimed, "the order compelling us to remove the entirety of Daulerio's post—his words, his speech (simply because Hulk Hogan didn't like it)—is grossly unconstitutional. We won't take it down." 

Denton (Gawker CEO) vs. Bollea

3 years later, on March 18, 2016; in St. Petersburg, Florida; the jury delivered the verdict in favor of Terry Bollea. He was awarded a total of $140 million- $60 million for emotional distress, $55 million in damages, and an extra $25 million in punitive damages. 

During the trial period, Gawker spent huge amounts trying to fight the case- they sold a minority stake to Columbus Nova Technology Partners, in order to maintain position in court. Although having lost, Nick Denton, CEO of the company, claims that he still plans on appealing the verdict.

Denton only faces one issue- according to Florida law, any appellant must pay one-half of the judgement (max bond at $50 million) in order for any appeals to begin. If they lose the appeal, they could lose everything they've worked for.

Quite the court case isn't it?! Where would you side? Freedom of press, or privacy of the people?

As for now...

I'll see you guys next time. Thanks for reading.

PS

Totally relevant