Amber Heard wants the verdict to be thrown out. Image Source: EW
Amber Heard wants the verdict of the defamation trial to be thrown out.
According to recent reports, Amber Heard’s attorneys are looking forward to an appeal to throw out the verdict announced at the Fairfax County Court, Virginia, where actor Johnny Depp significantly won all three counts of defamation against his ex-wife and was awarded almost $10 million as compensatory damages and $5 million as punitive damages, but according to Virginia law, the total amount comes to around $10.35 million.
The actress' team claimed in a 43-page document handed to a Virginia court on Friday that the verdict announced on June 1st was not adequately supported by the evidence and expressed worry that one of the jurors had not been thoroughly screened.
The $10 million in compensatory damages and the $5 million in punitive damages were first declared by the jury to be excessive and unjustifiable, according to the actress's attorneys, who noted this in their allegations. As previously reported, the judge decreased the punitive damages to $350,000 under a legal state maximum; hence, Amber Heard is scheduled to make a payment of $10.35 million to the actor. Amber Heard also received a $2 million compensatory damages verdict for her suit, but no punitive damages were given.
Amber Heard’s attorneys claim in their motion that Johnny Depp and his team did not provide any evidence of actual malice about the op-ed that Amber Heard had written for the Washington Post in 2018 in which she described herself as a domestic abuse and violence survivor. According to the defamation lawsuit that was initially filed by Johnny Depp in 2019 against Amber Heard, after the op-ed was published, even though he was not named in the op-ed, the people and the people in power who work in the industry could easily make out that the actress was talking about Johnny Depp, as she had obtained a restraining order against him in 2016 and went on to tarnish his career and image.
Amber Heard’s attorney stated that Johnny Depp’s team did not prove in the six-week-long trial that was highly publicized across the world that the op-ed written by the actress in 2018 defamed him and that the accusations stated in the op-ed against him were false, including the fact that Amber Heard had lied. The motion was filed and stated that actual malice is a subjective standard, and whether Amber Heard believes she was abused must be judged by her definition of abuse. The motion also stated that the evidence overwhelmingly supported Amber Heard's belief that she was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Johnny Depp.
The motion filed in Fairfax County Court stated that Amber Heard had testified unequivocally that Johnny Depp had abused her physically, emotionally, and psychologically and that Johnny Depp’s team failed to provide evidence that Amber Heard does not believe abuse can be physical, emotional, or psychological.
In addition to seeking to either dismiss the verdict or seek for another trial, the team of Amber Heard mentioned that jury number 15 listed their birth year as 1945 in documents provided to the legal teams and the court before the trial, but Amber Heard's team now claims that the publicly available information for juror number 15 indicates that they were born in 1970. The 43-page motion also asks the judge to investigate any potential improper jury service.
The motion by Amber Heard’s legal team stated that the discrepancy raises the question of whether Juror 15 actually received a summons for jury duty and was properly investigated or examined by the court before they were allowed to sit for the jury duty. The documents argued that Amber Heard’s due process was compromised due to potential discrepancy and added that this should be taken seriously and considered as grounds for a new trial to be ordered.
After the verdict was announced Amber Heard released a statement in which she said that the verdict is going to be a setback for women who chose to speak up against domestic violence and abuse that happens to her. In her statement, Amber Heard added that she feels that with a mountain of evidence that she had against Johnny Depp, the jury did not believe her and this is going to silence survivors to come forward. During an interview with Today’s Savannah Guthrie, she added that there is still so much evidence that she was not allowed to produce in court that could have changed the verdict. Amber Heard's attorney Elaine Bredehoft just after the verdict said that Amber Heard does not have the money to pay to the actor and she has some excellent grounds for appeal and she will proceeding with that.
On the other hand, Johnny Depp has remained steadfast in his position that he has never touched Amber Heard or any woman in his life. He claims that it was he who experienced the abuse and violence at the hands of Amber Heard. After the verdict was announced, Johnny Depp released a statement thanking everyone who was involved in the trial stating that they have given him his life back and he is very grateful for everyone's dedication and time for the six-week long trial. The actor who according to sources have moved on from the case and is now focusing on getting back to work does not want to jump on the hate band wagon and just wants to move ahead in his life. Benjamin Chew, who is in charge of Johnny Depp's legal team, responded to Amber Heard's team's filing by telling Courthouse News that the appeal is "what we expected, but lengthier, no more substantial."
Judge Penney Azcarate informed Amber Heard that to appeal the decision, motions would need to be sent to the court. Azcarate also stated that before an appeal could be heard, Amber Heard would need to post an $8.35 million bail.
