Amber Heard to appeal Johnny Depp trial verdict, but strategy is high risk
Jurors finally reached a verdict in the defamation claims brought by actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard case after the two accused each other of domestic abuse. On Wednesday, June 1, a jury ruled in favor of Johnny Depp in his lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp and Heard were squaring off over a 2018 op-ed Heard wrote for The Washington Post, where she called herself a domestic violence survivor. Depp has claimed that he was booted from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise because Heard's op-ed clearly implicated that he was the abuser. The article, however, did not mention Depp by name. The actor sued Heard for $50 million and she countersued him for $100 million, claiming Depp ran a smear campaign for years in an attempt to silence her and destroy her acting career.
After deliberating over three days, the jury has now ruled in a unanimous decision that Heard defamed Depp when she called herself a victim of domestic abuse. She has been ordered to pay $15 million in damages, including $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The jury also awarded Heard compensatory damages of $2 million because she was defamed when Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman called her abuse allegations a hoax.
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Independent reported that the 'Aquaman' actress has decided to appeal the verdict after the jury ruled in Depp's favor. Despite losing the civil court case in Fairfax, Virginia, Heard can still appeal against the decision. How effective this would be, however, is not clear. This could work out only if any significant new evidence or testimony now come to the fore.
According to English solicitor Mark Stephens, "it's almost inevitable that Amber Heard would have to appeal this verdict." He claimed to ABC: "There were quite a lot of legal and procedural errors that the judge in Virginia seems to have caused." But even if there are errors of law to appeal, Stephens says overturning the jury's verdict is a tough ask. He said, if anything, there would be an appeal to adjust the financial damages. "In this particular case, I think it is likely to be the legal problems," he said.
Depp and Heard began dating after meeting on the set of the 2011 film 'The Rum Diary'. They got married in Los Angeles in February 2015. In 2016, Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp, accusing him of abuse. Depp, however, denied the claims, saying that her accusations were a "choreographed hoax”. In 2019, the two settled their divorce out of court. At the time, Heard said she had donated her $7m (£5.5m) settlement to charity. Depp later accused her of lying about it.
Heard posted a statement on social media, expressing her disappointment with the verdict. "The disappointment I feel today is beyond words," Heard wrote in her statement. "I'm heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex husband."
“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women,” she continued. "It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke up could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women should be taken seriously." Heard added, "I believe Johnny's attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the U.K. I'm sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seemed to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly."