• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 6, 2016

Gawker Media is asking a Florida judge to throw out a jury's finding that the company violated Hulk Hogan's privacy by posting an excerpt of a sex tape.

The company argues that it had a free-speech right to post the material, because it involved a matter that the celebrity (whose real name is Terry Bollea) had alredy publicly discussed.

"The evidence showed that plaintiff openly made an issue of his sex life," Gawker writes in papers filed this week with Pinellas County judge Pamela Campbell.

Last month, a jury in Florida found Gawker, its founder Nick Denton, and former editor A.J. Daulerio liable for invading Hogan's privacy. The jury awarded Hogan a total of $140 million.

Gawker is now asking Campbell to reverse that verdict. The company argues that it had a First Amendment right to post the clip, given that it had already been discussed in the media.

"The evidence showed that, prior to the publication at issue in this case, there was widespread discussion of the sexual encounter and video at issue ... including by plaintiff himself," Gawker writes. The company specifically adds that Hogan discussed the sex tape in a 2011 interview with Howard Stern.

The wrestler argued at trial that there was a distinction between his public persona of "Hulk Hogan," who discussed the sex tape, and his private persona of Terry Bollea.

But Gawker is urging Campbell to reject that concept.

"Plaintiff’s self-perception of this artificial, dual reality is not one that is recognized by the First Amendment, precisely because it would allow a public figure to thrust himself into the public eye, invite discussion of a topic, and then allow him to unilaterally declare some aspect of that topic off limits," Gawker writes.

The company alternatively is asking Campbell to reduce the damage award, or order a new trial.

If Campbell rules against Gawker, the company is expected to take its case to the appellate court.

Appellate judges previously sided with Gawker in 2014, when they reversed Campbell's pre-trial order requiring Gawker to remove the clip and a 1,400-word commentary by former editor A.J. Daulerio.

“It was within Gawker Media's editorial discretion to publish the written report and video excerpts,” a three-judge appellate panel wrote in 2014.

Those judges added that Gawker's post dealt with a matter of public interest, and that Hogan had called TMZ Live to discuss the sex tape, appeared on the Howard Stern Show to say that he had an affair with the wife of a friend, and “was certainly not shy” about disclosing details of a separate affair in his autobiography.

"The mere fact that the publication contains arguably inappropriate and otherwise sexually explicit content does not remove it from the realm of legitimate public interest," the appellate judges wrote.