Vindicated.
Andrews brought a $75 million suit against her stalker, Michael Barrett, as well as the management company and owner of the Nashville Marriott where the nearly five-minute video was filmed in 2009,Ā involving a nude video taken through a hotel door peephole that was posted online
A Nashville, Tenn., jury has awarded $55 million to Fox sportscaster Erin Andrews in a lawsuit over a nude video of her taken by a stalker at a hotel andĀ posted online.
Andrews hadĀ filed a $75 million lawsuit against theĀ franchise owner and manager of a luxury hotel and a man who admittedĀ making secret nude recordings of her in 2008.
After a full day of deliberations, Andrews did emerge victorious, a jury awarding her $55 million after finding Barrett to be approximately 51 percent at fault and Marriott owner West End Hotel Partners and former operator Windsor Capital Group 49 percent responsible for what happened to her. As it stands, Barrett is being ordered to pay Andrews $28 million and the companies are on the hook for more than $26 million.
In a Twitter post, Andrews thanked her family, friends and legal team, and said she was “honoured byĀ all the support from victims around the world.”
Here’s how the TV star went from victim to vindication:
An FBI investigation revealed that Michael DavidĀ BarrettĀ shot videos in hotels in Nashville and Columbus, Ohio, and posted them online. The trial focused on the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt and video.
On Friday inĀ Davidson County Circuit Court, Judge Hamilton Gayden found Barrett at fault.
It was only up to jurors to decide if the hotel owner, West End Hotel Partners, and the former operator, Windsor Capital Group, should share in the blame. The hotel is a franchise and Marriott is not part of the trial.
Barrett was a Chicago-area insurance company executive who frequently travelled around the United States. 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 inĀ a room that was in an alcove off a main hallway.
āBarrett pleaded guilty to stalking Andrews, altering hotel room peepholes and taking nude videos of her. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
HeĀ did not show up for the trial. In his videotaped deposition, he said that he alone was to blame.
BarrettĀ said he correctly guessed that she would be at the hotel ā it was the closest one to the Vanderbilt football game Andrews was covering ā by calling and pretending to be in a group with herĀ and asking for confirmation of the reservations.
Barrett said he posted the recordings online after celebrity gossip website TMZ refused to buy them. He picked Andrews, he said, because she was popular and he saw that she was trending on Yahoo.
Attorneys for the companies argued that while what happened to Andrews was terrible, the convicted stalker should be solely to blame because he was a determined criminal. The attorneys also suggested that Andrews’ rise in her career shows 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 co-operation in the FBI investigation and said the case had changed the hotel industry to make rooms more secure.
Erin Andrews Nude Shots Thru Marriottās Door Hole
āShe was so afraid,ā attorney Randall Kinnard said in
Erin Andrews stalking saga: 7 things to know
Barrett requested to be in a room near Andrews
In 2008, Andrews was staying at a Nashville Marriott when Barrett used a peephole in the door of the hotel room where Andrews was staying to record video of the former ESPN sportscaster who now works for Fox Sports. According to Andrews’ testimony, Barrett requested to be near Andrews’ hotel room and hotel staff honored that request. “No one ever called me or told me when I checked in that he asked to be put next to me.”
Barrett followed Andrews to multiple hotels
Barrett was not present in the courtroom during the trial, but in videotaped testimony, he admitted to altering hotel peepholes to record video of Andrews. He admitted to doing so in hotels in Columbus, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in addition to one in Nashville. Barrett served 20 months after pleading guilty to stalking Andrews in 2009.
Barrett offered the videos to TMZ for payment
When the celebrity gossip site refused the offer, Barrett posted the video online. He said he only chose Andrews because he saw her trending on Yahoo and she was popular. He recorded the video for financial gain.
Barrett videotaped other women
Other than Andrews, Barrett admitted on videotaped testimony that he recorded 10 women other than Andrews.
The video still haunts Andrews
During testimony, Andrews said she continues to have anxiety and suffers from depression because of the video. “I think about it every day,” she said. “One of the worst thoughts I have is when I walk around a stadium … there’s always that thought, as I walk right by the stands, and I think, ‘My God, everyone in this stadium has seen that video.'”
Andrews said ESPN required her to do an interview before going back to work
Andrews testified that after the video surfaced in 2009, her bosses at ESPN told her she had to do a sit-down interview to prove she did not purposely leak the video. “That was the only way I was going to be allowed back,” she said. “I didnāt want to do it, I didnāt want to be a part of it ā¦ But this was the only way I was going to be put back on air, so we went to the Oprah show.”
The jury decided the companies and the stalker should share blame
Jurors said Barrett was responsible for 51 percent of the verdict and the owner and former operator of the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt is responsible for 49 percent.