Is Amber Heard Suing Johnny Depp Defamation Trial Verdict Lawsuit
Come back. After spring’s lengthy defamation trial, many are wondering: is Amber Heard suing Johnny Depp? According to documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, Heard is not, but her attorneys want to throw out the verdict of the trial.
ET received the post-trial filing documents on July 4, 2022, in which Heard’s attorneys allege that Depp’s compensation award was “excessive” and “unjustifiable.” Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages for a total of $15 million. However, Depp was ordered to pay Heard $2 million in damages. Due to the punitive damages cap under Virginia law, Judge Penney Azcarate reduced Heard’s punitive damages award from $5 million to $350,000. Heard’s attorney filing also noted that “the evidence overwhelmingly convinced Ms. Heard that she was the victim of abuse at the hands of Mr. Depp.” The motion continued, “Since actual malice is a subjective yardstick, whether Ms Heard believes she was abused must be judged against her definition of abuse. Ms Heard testified in no uncertain terms that Mr Depp abused her physically, emotionally and psychologically. Mr Depp has provided no evidence that Ms Heard does not believe abuse can be physical, emotional or psychological.”
Heard’s attorneys are also asking the judge to address “possibly improper jury service.” According to the documents, a juror claimed they were born in 1945 in documents given to the legal teams and filed by the court before the trial. However, Juror 15 was actually born in 1970, according to public records obtained by the attorneys. “This discrepancy raises the question of whether juror 15 actually received a jury service subpoena and was properly reviewed by the court to serve on the jury,” the filing reads. Heard’s legal team argues that “Ms. Heard’s due process has been compromised.”
Depp won the defamation suit on June 1, 2022 after suing Heard for $50 million. Depp was not present at the long-awaited verdict. The trial was held because of a comment Heard wrote in the Washington Post in 2018 about her experiences with domestic violence. Although no names were given, many people speculated that it was about her marriage to Depp. Depp claimed the comment cost him his acting jobs.
After previewing Heard’s interview, a rep for the actress made the following statement StyleCaster on June 13, 2022 via email: “Johnny Depp’s legal team inundated the media with numerous statements and interviews on television for days after the verdict, and Depp himself did the same on social media. Ms. Heard just wanted to respond to what they aggressively did last week; She did this by expressing her thoughts and feelings, many of which she was not allowed to take on the witness stand.”
If you or someone you know has been affected by domestic violence, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at SAFE (7233) for confidential assistance.
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