A Florida jury awarded Hulk Hogan $25 million in punitive damages Monday in his sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media.
The decision came just days after Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was awarded $115 million — $15 million more than he had even asked for.
The lawsuit alleged that Gawker violated Hogan’s privacy after publishing in 2012 a secretly recorded video of the 62-year-old ex-pro wrestler having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, radio "shock jock" Bubba the Love Sponge.
Gawker’s lawyers argued that Hogan made his sex life a public matter.
In Monday’s decision, the jury assessed Gawker $15 million in punitive damages, while its founder, Nick Denton, was responsible for $10 million.
A.J. Daulerio, the editor who posted and edited the video, was on the hook for $100,000.
“I feel great,” Hogan said Monday outside the St. Petersburg courthouse. “I'm really happy about everything that's happened. We've protected a lot of people from going [through] what I went through.”
As with Friday’s judgement, Denton said he is planning to appeal.
Gawker attorney Michael Berry argued that punitive damages would be piling on to a verdict that already "could be debilitating for Gawker Media."
The jury was told that Gawker Media is worth $83 million.
Denton is worth about $121 million, most of which came from his share of a separate parent company that owns Gawker and holds its intellectual property, valued at $276 million.
Daulerio had no assets and thousands of dollars in student loans, the attorneys said.
