Erin Andrews Awarded $55 Million in Peeping Video Lawsuit

Sportscaster had sought $75 million

Erin Andrews Court Appearance
Getty Images

Sportscaster Erin Andrews has been awarded $55 million in her lawsuit over a secretly videotaped recording that captured her naked, ABC News reports.

Andrews had originally sought $75 million in the case.

The Fox Sports host had sued the owner of the Nashville, Tennessee, hotel where she was taped via a peephole. She also sued Michael David Barrett, the man who recorded the video in 2008 by tampering with the peephole of Andrews’ room.

The owners of the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University had contended that Barrett’s actions were his own, and that they bore no responsibility.

Barrett was sentenced to 30 months on an interstate stalking charge in 2010.

Andrews, who maintained that someone affiliated with the hotel gave Barrett her room number and he was intentionally placed in a room next to her, provided emotional testimony during the trial.

Responding to suggestions that she leaked the tape as a publicity stunt, Andrews testified, “I feel so ashamed … This happens every day of my life. Either I get a tweet, or somebody makes a comment in the paper, or somebody sends me a still of the video to my Twitter, or somebody screams it at me in the stands. And I’m right back to this.”

 Andrews’ father, Steve Andrews, testified that his daughter had been greatly affected by the incident.

“She’s afraid. She’s afraid of crowds, afraid of people. She doesn’t trust anymore,” the elder Andrews said.

During the trial, a representative of West End Hotel Partners, which owns the hotel, denied a Nashville bartender’s claim that the representative had shown the videotape to friends while out dining. The representative, Neal Peskind, contended that his friends had displayed the video at dinner, and he was the one who insisted that his friends stop showing it.

Later on Monday afternoon, Andrews tweeted thanks to the Nashville court system and the jury on her case.

Comments