Nearly seven years after the infamous peephole videos of Erin Andrews surfaced on the web, her nightmare may now be finally over.
The Fox broadcaster has reached a settlement in her lawsuit against the hotel owner and operator who allowed a stalker to film her through a peephole in 2008. A Nashville jury initially awarded Andrews a $55 million in March, $28 million from her stalker Michael David Barrett, and $27 million from West End Hotel Partners and Windsor Capital Group – although it was unlikely Andrews would ever see the full amount awarded.
Andrews’ lawyer Randall Kinnard said Andrews was satisfied with the confidential settlement.
“This litigation is over,” Kinnard told Stacey Barchenger of the Tennessean. “Erin Andrews is satisfied with the settlement, the terms of which are confidential.”
The Tennessean reports the hotel companies could have been responsible for the entire $55 million after Andrews’ lawyers asked the judge to apply rules of joint and several liability. Given that amount, it’s no surprise the hotel companies opted to quickly settle the case.
“When there is uncertainty, that’s oftentimes a driver of settlements,” said Mark Chalos, a lawyer who analyzed the case for The Tennessean . “That could have played a factor.”
The settlement adds closure to what had to have been a horrifying ordeal for Andrews. The initial trial and subsequent ruling was fairly high profile and included many cringeworthy moments that reflected very poorly on hotel management, their legal representation, ESPN, and the individual who orchestrated the video. It was believed that because of an ongoing appeals process and the main defendant’s lack of resources to pay the ruling, Andrew was only going to be able to collect a fraction of the initial ruling. It’s likely all parties involved were motivated to put this incident behind them given how ugly the actual trial was for everyone involved. Hopefully the settlement allows for Andrews to put this incident behind her and allow for a return to normalcy to her career and personal life.
