{"id":4061,"date":"2016-04-07T12:44:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T16:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=4061"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:53:01","slug":"hulk-hogan-140-million-dollars-and-the-growing-importance-of-privacy-rights-to-juries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/hulk-hogan-140-million-dollars-and-the-growing-importance-of-privacy-rights-to-juries\/","title":{"rendered":"Hulk Hogan, $140 Million Dollars, and the Growing Importance of Privacy Rights to Juries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, recently won one of the biggest wrestling matches of his career last week when he walked away from a trial against entertainment news website Gawker $140 million dollars richer.\u00a0 Just two weeks ago a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million and another $25 million in punitive damages determining that the balance between press freedom and privacy<\/a><\/span> weighed in favored of Mr. Bollea\u2019s rights.
\nWhat did Gawker even do that would warrant such a reward?\u00a0 Well Hulk Hogan has a sex tape.\u00a0 In fact, he produced a sex tape with the wife of friend, probably former friend, Bubba the Love Sponge, a radio personality based out of Tampa, Florida.\u00a0 This video was then made available on the Internet when Gawker Media published it in late 2012.
\nDespite the historical deference given to media in First Amendment types of cases, this recent case demonstrates a shift in the attitude toward media and the ways in which privacy can be compromised in the name of free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the case got to trial, and\u00a0Gawker<\/em>\u00a0met a state court jury, Hogan was able to exploit the overwhelming unpopularity of the news media to his advantage. \u2018Do you think the media can do whatever they want?\u2019 asked Hogan’s attorney Ken Turkel in\u00a0closing arguments<\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 
\nReports now demonstrate that the public has become less trusting of media sources and it is obvious from Mr. Bollea\u2019s case.\u00a0 In the age of social media sharing and voluntarily giving up information, picutes, videos, and thoughts to third parties, the public still very much respects their private information and values safeguarding these privacy rights apparently at $140 million dollars.\u00a0 After all \u201cevery day, we see examples of otherwise private people who are held up for embarrassment, public shaming or ridicule, when a confidential comment or personal information is broadcast around the world (many of Gawker\u2019s targets over the years have been far less famous and far less eager for attention than Mr. Hogan).\u201d<\/a><\/span>
\nIn a similar suit, New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has sued a hospital, ESPN and its correspondent Adam Schefter for tweeting out a photo of his medical records after Mr. Pierre-Paul severely injured himself after lighting fireworks in Miami.\u00a0 Schefter claims it was a valid move because \u201cto provide incontrovertible proof of Pierre-Paul\u2019s amputation, but given that he is the biggest and most trusted NFL reporter, almost nobody would\u2019ve questioned him if he\u2019d simply reported that Pierre-Paul\u2019s index finger had been amputated.\u201d<\/a><\/span>\u00a0 Even though the complaint acknowledges that \u201cthe amputation may have been of legitimate public concern<\/a><\/span>\u201d but, should this always be the standard when individual privacy rights are at stake?\u00a0 Especially when considering the sensitive nature of medical records?\u00a0 Does anyone have a right to go to the hospital, obtain an individual\u2019s records, and then publish them in the name of free speech?\u00a0 In this context, it seems even scarier because when you remove a public figure from the hypothetical, the consequences of enabling this practice hit closer to home for a regular citizen.
\n\u201cWhen celebrities and others do sue, the Hogan case may provide another signal of what’s to come.<\/a><\/span>\u201d\u00a0 It seems as though the jury in Mr. Bollea\u2019s case recognized this and awarded him not based on his celebrity status but because of this distrust of the media, its overarching reach, its invasive nature and influence, and the fear that an individual\u2019s privacy rights do not mean anything in an continually open and accessible digital age.\u00a0 This case becomes less about the spectacle of Hulk Hogan and another sex tape performance when it is viewed as a case that tries to hold onto control of an individual\u2019s privacy rights in a time when over sharing across social media platforms is almost expected.
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, recently won one of the biggest wrestling matches of his career last week when he walked away from a trial against entertainment news website Gawker $140 million dollars richer.\u00a0 Just two weeks ago a Florida jury awarded Hogan $115 million and another $25 million in punitive damages determining …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7206,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061\/revisions\/7206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}