Hulk Hogan back for round two in Florida sex tape trial

[March 08, 2016]  By Letitia Stein
 
 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Reuters) - The fight between Hulk Hogan and the Gawker website returns to a Florida courtroom on Tuesday, where the wrestler is expected to be questioned by lawyers for the media company that he seeks to punish over its release of a secretly recorded sex tape.

A six-person jury is weighing his $100 million lawsuit against Gawker for publishing an edited sex clip in a case testing the boundaries between celebrity privacy rights and press freedoms.

The 62-year-old former professional wrestler, who is using his legal name of Terry Bollea in court, is due to be cross-examined by Gawker attorneys a day after testifying to his humiliation over the 2012 posting.

Gawker attorneys argue that the one-minute, 41-second clip reported on a celebrity who had publicly discussed details of his sex life. It showed a consensual sexual encounter between the wrestler and the wife of his then best friend, radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge.

The longtime champion of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) told jurors that he was not aware the video was being recorded in a private bedroom at Bubba's house, where he considered himself safe among friends.

The civil trial in St. Petersburg, Florida, near his home, could last three weeks.

(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Dominic Evans)

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