Hulkamaniac jurors cough up another $25 million for Hogan
Hulk Hogan's $115 award Friday in his suit against Gawker Media was the main course. Monday came dessert. A jury hit Gawker with $15 million in punitive damages and its owner with $10 million, bringing the total to $140 million, for publishing a sex video of Hogan.
Hulk Hogan's $115 award Friday in his suit against Gawker Media was the main course.
Monday came dessert. A jury hit Gawker with $15 million in punitive damages and its owner with $10 million, bringing the total to $140 million, for publishing a sex video of Hogan.
From the size of the punitive award, it was clear that the jury wanted to punish Gawker even more.
During brief arguments Monday, Gawker's lawyer pleaded that the Friday verdict is already "debilitating" for the company. Gawker will, of course, appeal.
Hogan's attorney said jurors were in a position to "send a message" and deter others.
Friday's $115 million award was for economic harm and emotional distress. Monday's award, in the words of Hogan attorney Kenneth Turkel, was to punish recklessness and to send a message to other media companies.
You can trust Tattle. If we we get footage of any celebrity or quasi-celebrity having sex, getting undressed or taking a shower, we're not posting it.
On the other hand, if you can guarantee Tattle a payout of $50 million or more for grainy, barely focused footage of us having sex with a semi-famous person and supply the semi-famous person for the sex, our email address is at the bottom.
Bus-ted
NYC's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday that it will use the state's Son of Sam law to try to recoup any money Darius McCollum makes off a feature film in development about his life. McCollum has a long history of posing as a New York City subway worker and has been arrested 30 times for transit-related crimes.
McCollum told the Associated Press that his uncontrollable obsession with buses and trains is because of an autism-spectrum disorder and he needs help.
Or at least a token.
He was most recently arrested in November, when he was accused of stealing a Greyhound bus from a terminal in New Jersey and driving it to Brooklyn.
Transit officials said they would ask for written notice from The Gotham Group, a film production company interested in telling McCollum's story, of their financial agreement with McCollum. The officials said they were seeking "any ill-gotten gains he receives from participation in this purported film project." The Gotham Group had no comment.
McCollum, now 50, had the subway map memorized by age 8. He befriended engineers and pilots and first started hanging around the subway as a child - he knows every subway line, every stop. He wanted to work for the MTA, but transit officials have long said they would not hire someone who had stolen a train, as he did at 15 from Penn Station to the World Trade Center.
A documentary about his life, Off the Rails, will premiere April 7 at the Full Frame festival in Durham, North Carolina. The feature film, tentatively titled Train Man, is set to star Julia Roberts as Sally Butler, who has been McCollum's attorney since his 2010 arrest in Queens for stealing a Trailways bus.
He hasn't seen any money yet from the producers, Butler said. Any money would likely come if the film makes it to production.
"And if he gets any, he should be able to keep it," she said. "This is not your usual guy in jail. He's a special case."
Did his train run on time?
It's a shame it wasn't London's subway system. Then instead of Train Man it could be called A Beautiful Mind . . . the Gap.
TATTBITS
* HBO announced Monday that comedian Quincy Jones (not famous musician Quincy Jones), who recently appeared on Ellen and told his story, will headline a stand-up special to air this spring.
Jones, 32, was diagnosed last summer with Stage 4 mesothelioma cancer and given a year to live. He is undergoing chemotherapy and performing when he is able, down from the 1,000 gigs a year he had been doing.
Jones returned to the "Ellen" show Monday and learned HBO was on board. The show will tape in April in L.A.
* With the poor opening of Divergent: Allegiant last weekend, Lionsgate will slash the budget of Divergent: Ascendant.
It may also see its title changed to Divergent: Kickstarter.
- Wire
services contributed.
215-854-5678 @DNTattle