$21.75-Million Jury Award to Hudson’s Lover May Be Cut

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge said Friday that he may reduce the $21.75 million a jury recently awarded Marc Christian, Rock Hudson’s former lover, by at least $4.25 million.

Attorneys for Hudson’s estate and for the late actor’s secretary, Mark Miller, had requested a new trial in the case, calling the award excessive. They also submitted evidence of alleged juror misconduct and a sworn statement from an Orange County man who claimed that Christian had sex with him six weeks after Hudson’s death from AIDS in 1985.

Although Judge Bruce R. Geernaert said he would not issue a final decision on the attorneys’ motions until April 21, he did say he planned to reduce the punitive damages against Miller from $7.25 million to $3 million or less.

Graphic Testimony

During the five-week trial that ended in February, Christian, 31, said in often graphic testimony that he continued to have sex with Hudson for eight months after the actor was diagnosed with AIDS. He said that he was never told Hudson had contracted acquired immune deficiency syndrome and claimed that his unwitting exposure to the fatal virus had caused him severe emotional distress.

A jury of seven women and five men awarded Christian $14.5 million in compensatory damages, deciding that Hudson had conspired with Miller to conceal his illness from Christian.

The jury awarded the exemplary and punitive damages against Miller to punish him for his “despicable conduct” in helping Hudson to hide his illness.

Geernaert said he would also reduce the compensatory damages, although he had not yet decided the amount of the reduction. But the judge added that he believed that both the jury’s verdict and a sizable award were justified.

‘A Fear of Death’

“The fear of AIDS suffered by the plaintiff (Christian) was obviously an extremely intense fear,” the judge said. “The fear of AIDS is in reality a fear of death, and it is a fear of a miserable, agonizing death.”

Attorneys for Hudson’s estate attempted to discredit Christian’s testimony Friday by submitting a sworn statement from Gunther Albert Fraulob, a Laguna Niguel physical trainer, who claimed to have had sex with Christian after Hudson’s death.

Geernaert said, however, the new evidence would not have affected the outcome of the trial.

The judge also dismissed as “not credible” statements by three jurors that were submitted by defense attorneys as evidence of juror misconduct.

According to the statements, one juror attended the funeral of a friend who had died of AIDS and allegedly shared her experiences with her fellow jurors. Another juror allegedly confided that she was prejudiced against “rich people.”

Geernaert said he believed that their statements were influenced by the “almost hysterical response in the media immediately after the verdict.”

Refused Comment

Attorneys for Miller and Hudson’s estate refused comment on the judge’s statements. But Christian’s attorney, Harold Rhoden, said his client would now be willing to accept as little as $10 million in compensatory damages.

Rhoden told the jury in February that a high award would “send a message” that people with AIDS have a duty to inform their sexual partners.

“It’s excessive, we admit that,” Rhoden said Friday of the jury’s award. “But as long as it’s in the millions, I think the message is there.”