Jury awards Erin Andrews $55M in lawsuit over nude video
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sportscaster and television host Erin Andrews, center, stood with attorney Scott Carr, left, as the jury entered the courtroom today in Nashville, Tenn.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sportscaster and television host Erin Andrews wipes tears as the verdict is read today in Nashville, Tenn.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. » A jury awarded Erin Andrews $55 million today in her lawsuit against a stalker who bought a hotel room next to her and secretly recorded a nude video, finding that the hotel companies and the stalker shared in the blame.
After a full day of deliberations, the panel said the stalker was responsible for 51 percent of the verdict and the two hotel companies should share the rest, which is nearly $27 million.
Andrews, a Fox Sports reporter and co-host of the TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” wept as jurors announced the verdict. She hugged her attorneys, family and several jurors after the verdict was read. She appeared to sign an autograph for at least one juror.
The jury heard directly from Andrews, who testified that she was humiliated, shamed and suffers from depression as a result of the video, which has been viewed by millions of people online. She had asked for $75 million.
Andrews’ parents described for jurors the terror they and their daughter felt after learning of the video but not knowing who took it, where it was shot and if someone was still watching their daughter.
An FBI investigation would later reveal that Michael David Barrett shot videos in hotels in Nashville and Columbus, Ohio, and posted them online. The trial focused on the video shot in 2008 at the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt.
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“I’ve been honored by all the support from victims around the world. Their outreach has helped me be able to stand up and hold accountable those whose job it is to protect everyone’s safety, security and privacy,” she said in a statement posted on her Twitter account.
On Friday, Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Hamilton Gayden found Barrett at fault and left it up to jurors to decide if the hotel owner, West End Hotel Partners, and former operator, Windsor Capital Group, should share any responsibility. The hotel is a franchise and Marriott was not part of the trial.
Attorneys for the companies argued that while what happened to Andrews was terrible, the stalker should be solely to blame because he was a determined criminal. The attorneys also suggested that Andrews’ rise in her career showed she did not suffer severe and permanent distress.
After the verdict, they said they were disappointed and not sure if they would appeal. They noted their cooperation in the FBI investigation and said the case had changed the hotel industry to make rooms more secure.
Andrews said her stalker’s arrest and imprisonment did not make the nightmare go away. She broke down on the stand repeatedly, saying she continues to suffer because people are still watching the videos and taunting her about them.
“This happens every day of my life,” Andrews said tearfully. “Either I get a tweet or somebody makes a comment in the paper or somebody sends me a still video to my Twitter or someone screams it at me in the stands and I’m right back to this. I feel so embarrassed and I am so ashamed.”
Barrett pleaded guilty to stalking Andrews, altering hotel room peepholes and taking nude videos of her. He was sentenced to 2½ years in prison. He did not appear at the trial.
Andrews has maintained that someone at the hotel gave out her room number to Barrett and honored his request to be placed near hear. She said no one ever told her that he asked to be in an adjoining or connecting room. Had she known that, she said she would’ve called police.
Barrett was a Chicago-area insurance company executive who frequently traveled around the country when he took the video of Andrews at the Nashville hotel in September 2008. He shot about 4 1/2 minutes of nude video of her while she was inside a room that was in an alcove off a main hallway. The video was played for jurors.
In Barrett’s videotaped deposition, he said that he alone was to blame. He said he correctly guessed that she would be at the hotel — it was the closest one to the Vanderbilt football game Andrews was covering — by calling and pretending to be in a group with Andrews and asking for confirmation of the reservations.
He said he used an in-house employee phone to learn her room number, and made a request to be in the room next to Andrews.
During closing arguments, one of Andrews’ lawyers said Barrett tried to shoulder responsibility because he holds a grudge against her over his conviction and didn’t want her to win any money.
Barrett said he posted the recordings online after celebrity gossip website TMZ refused to buy them. The only reason he picked Andrews, he said, was because she was popular and he saw that she was trending on Yahoo.
26 responses to “Jury awards Erin Andrews $55M in lawsuit over nude video”
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Wait, how is it the hotel’s fault again?
the hotel gave out the victim’s room number so the eyepiece could be altered to allow videoing of the interior of the victim’s room.
I also don’t understand that, especially that they are 49% guilty. I’m not sure how that works in Tennessee but in Hawaii if the guy that’s 51% guilty can’t pay the $55M, the hotel is responsible for the remaining amount. That means that if the guy can only come up with $1M, the hotel has to pay $54M.
No. In Tennessee, the damage split can be determined by the jury, as they did in this case. The hotel owners are effectively the only possible source of payment. That total is roughly $26 million. The co-defendant will declare bankruptcy to avoid the damages, if he isn’t already a bankrupt. Given the incredibly negligent behavior of the hotel, I would not expect the judge to order a remittitur.
Their at fault because they have deep pockets.
Why are woman on NFL games anyway? Who wants to see them?
No surprise that you would post this comment. I’m wondering when you will no longer be able to scrape any deeper into the bottom of your barrel.
Perhaps the question should be who wants to see NFL games? I mean come on, a game that is suppose to last 1 hour generally takes 3-4 hours. That means a good 2 hours of advertising. Rather watch women announcers than adds.
what a low life s c uzz buc ket….
he deserves imprisonment.
That he does.
Erin can retire now and live in peace, LIP, as opposed to rest in peace, RIP. She does seem to be doing well in public though, in her job as a sideline reporter for Fox NFL telecasts.
I doubt it. She just got an award. She has not collected anything yet. Shame she had to go through all of this.
$55 mil – a bit much. Hasn’t seemed to damage her career in any way. Yes psychologically, but $55 mil? Wow.
$55 million is the gross award. How much will be left over after attorney fees and other costs, will be far less. Until she collects, it is just an award, and is not really worth much. Better to have it than not, but just saying, she won’t be all that rich as now the trouble really starts on collecting it. Won’t be easy. Wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. She will probably deserve every penny she does ultimately collect.
$55 Million for a nude video? Wow!!! Where can I sign up for that!!! I think I can easily get over the trauma and shame of being caught nude on video for that amount of compensation. Will never have to work a day in her life again… can buy a several homes, a self-sufficient ranch or two, travel the World, create a Charitable Foundation and invest the rest. UNREAL, who was her attorney?
On appeal the settlement is likely to be reduced. Still, how is it that this stalker was able to rent a room next to hers? Obviously someone working for the hotel knew and took inappropriate action. She had a reasonable expectation that she would have her privacy respected. Her attorney gets at least one third of the settlement.
Where did you get this from? Attorney fees are described in a contract between a client and an attorney and nothing about this case suggests that a 1/3 of award fee would be paid. There was no risk whatever of losing this case, so it’s very unlikely that the fee would be based as a percentage of the award.
One caveat: you actually have to be someone to begin with. So, sorry, your gravy train hasn’t left its design stage yet.
The point is that her privacy was invaded. The Government has been criticized about its surveillance methods and its invasion of privacy. But the government is no where as despicable as this person was. This scum bucket apparently has profited over this privacy invasion. In addition the hotel just allowed any tom dick or harry to move into the room next door without her knowledge? Doesn’t sound smart to me and the hotel should pay pay and pay some more.
$55 million may sound like a lot but chances are she will just see a small fraction of this. The individual who did this will probably declare bankruptcy. The hotel will appeal and appeal until she is an old woman.
Only in the USA. That law suit will pay more than Playboy would have offered her. How does the court system come up with such a price tag? What if this happened at a park bathroom and the guy was homeless? There was a crime committed here but for $55 million?? You can kill a person and get away with it but look what happens with a lawsuit gone viral.
What “court system” that you write about came up with that “price tag”? Do you have no idea how civil trials work?
Ok fake lawyer klastri, enlighten everyone how this lawsuit took place in your backyard and not a court of law with a jury.
Well, gee. There’s a slim possibility that the woman wasn’t interested in having her nude image recorded by some perv for any amount of money.
As for the rest of your post…. I can’t decide if it’s more offensive or crazy.
It gets worse every day here. Wow ….
klastri, please lie down and tell us why you are such a sociopath. It’s all in your imagination that you are ugly and no one likes you. No need to lash out anonymously and get your fix of narcissism.
That does not answer the question of how you come up with such a lewd amount of money. Don’t waste your time replying. Why is a prison sentence sufficient in a charge of murder but this crazy amount of money awarded in a peeping tom case? If that does not offend you and a single post in a news column does you should check your priorities in life. Your are so sensitive and easily offended for someone that would call him/herself tiger.
Libertarians, Conservatives, and Trump and Rand Paul believe we need these lawsuits to make the defenfpdants like the hotel change their ways. Better than Congress or a state passing a law and hiring inspectors. No lawsuit and hotels will not do anything.