Amber Heard’s lawyer says the actor plans to appeal her husband Johnny Depp’s victory in his legal battle for defamation, a verdict that awarded him more than $ 10 million (13.7 million dollars) in damages.
Elaine Bredehoft told NBC Today, just a day after Depp won the lawsuit, that Ms. Heard would appeal “absolutely” against the verdict and that she had “some excellent reasons for it.”
He said there were several “evidentiary issues” in the case.
“A number of things were allowed in this court that should not have been allowed, and that caused the jury to be confused,” Ms Bredehoft said.
“We had even tried to get the UK ruling to dismiss his case because he already had his chance, and that is one of the problems, but also some of the evidentiary problems.
“There was so much evidence they didn’t come in.”
When asked if Ms. Heard could afford to pay the $ 10.35 million in damages, Ms Bredehoft said, “Oh, absolutely not.”
As a public figure, Depp faced a high level to win his defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
But according to seven unanimous jurors, he made it clear.
Depp said his ex-wife defamed him in an opinion piece in the 2018 newspaper in which he alluded to allegations of abuse against Depp. His name was never mentioned.
Virginia’s civil jury ruled Wednesday in favor of Mr. Depp in his three charges, finding that Ms. Heard had not only made false and defamatory statements, but had done so with “real malice,” a higher threshold for cases. involving public figures.
Depp’s victory was not absolute, however. Jurors also concluded that part of Ms. Heard’s counterclaim had merit. They rejected two of Mrs Heard’s three charges, but found her defamed by a Depp lawyer who accused her of abusing her apartment to make it look worse to police. The jury awarded him $ 2 million.
Here’s a look at each of the jurors counts considered.
First count against Heard
Jurors considered whether Depp was defamed by the online headline of the opinion piece in The Washington Post: “I spoke out against sexual violence and faced the wrath of our culture. That must change. “.
Ms. Heard’s attorneys argued that she did not write the headline.
But the jurors concluded that Ms. Heard “made it or published it” and that was defamatory.
Second count against Heard
Jurors considered the third paragraph of the opinion: “Then, two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s anger at women. they were talking. “
Depp’s lawyers said he was clearly referring to Mr. Depp, since Mrs Heard publicly accused him of domestic violence in 2016.
Ms. Heard’s attorneys said a wealth of evidence showed that Ms. Heard. Heard was abused numerous times and that only a proven case of abuse would make the line not defamatory. They also argued that the statement was objectively true, because it did not focus on Depp, but on Mrs. Heard’s experience.
Jurors disagreed and found the statement defamatory.
Amber Heard said she was “heartbroken that the mountain of evidence was still not enough to resist my ex-husband’s disproportionate power, influence and dominance.” (AP: Evelyn Hockstein)
Third count against Heard
In a second passage of the opinion, Ms. Heard wrote: “I had the very rare view of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.”
Mr. Depp’s lawyers reiterated that he was clearly referring to Mr. Depp. Depp.
And, as with the other two charges, the jurors found that Ms. Heard had defamed Mr. Depp with “real malice”: there was clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Heard knew it was false or acted without regard to the truth.
First count against Depp
Ms. Heard filed three defamation charges against Depp, saying she had been repeatedly slandered by her former attorney Adam Waldman, who described Ms. Heard’s allegations of abuse as a hoax. Heard said the comments hurt his career.
The jurors considered a statement by Mr. Waldman appeared on The Daily Mail’s website on April 8, 2020:
“Amber Heard and her friends in the media use false allegations of sexual violence as a sword and as a shield based on their needs. They have selected some of their ‘facts’ of sexual violence as a sword, inflicting to the public and Mr. Depp “.
Jurors concluded that Ms. Heard’s attorneys had not proven all elements of the defamation.
Less than two years ago, Johnny Depp lost his defamation case in the UK High Court, a sensationalist press article calling him a “women’s hitter”. (Pool via AP: Jim Watson)
Second count against Depp
Heard got his only win over a statement Waldman made to the Daily Mail. He accused Ms Heard and her friends of making allegations of abuse after a 2016 brawl in the couple’s Hollywood attic that caused Mrs Heard to call police.
The statement reads:
“This was simply an ambush, a hoax. They set up Mr Depp by calling the police, but the first attempt did not work. no damage. Amber and her friends spilled some wine and damaged the place, put their stories directly under the direction of a lawyer and a publicist, and then called 911. “
Two officers testified that they saw no evidence that Ms. Heard was injured, although she appeared in public with a mark on her face a few days later requesting a temporary restraining order.
The jurors agreed with Ms. Heard’s attorneys that Mr. Waldman’s statement was false and defamatory and that he had acted with real malice.
Third count against Depp
The final count against Waldman involved a statement from the same article: “We have reached the beginning of the end of Mrs. Heard’s abuse deception against Johnny Depp.”
Jurors concluded that Ms. Heard’s attorneys had not shown that the statement was defamatory.
What have legal experts said about the ruling?
Amber Heard is likely to appeal the verdict, according to English lawyer Mark Stephens, who said there may have been legal errors during the case.
“I think it’s almost inevitable that Amber Heard will have to appeal this verdict,” Stephens told ABC.
“There were many legal and procedural errors that appear to have been caused by the Virginia judge.”
But even if there are errors of law to appeal, Stephens said it would be difficult to overturn the jury’s verdict.
New York marriage and family attorney Brent Ward also said there were “some inconsistencies in the verdict.”
“Johnny Depp’s knowledge base is what Amanda (Amber) Heard told this post that was fake and malicious,” he said.
“However, Johnny Depp’s lawyers said his actions were false and malicious, and they also found this to be true. So there may be some of what I call post-trial motions, which is the that you call a trial, despite the verdict, and say, “Judge, this can’t stand what the evidence has provided. The jury couldn’t have concluded that way,” Ward said.
The verdicts also put an end to a televised trial that Depp hoped would help restore his reputation, although it turned out to be a spectacle that offered a window into a vicious marriage.
Johnny Depp fans regularly attended court, sometimes greeting and cheering the actor. (AP: Craig Hudson)
Throughout the procedure, the fans who were overwhelmingly next to Depp lined up overnight for the coveted seats in the room. Spectators who could not enter gathered in the street to cheer on Depp and make fun of Heard every time they showed up outside.
Ward believes this played a major role in the verdict.
“Johnny Depp won the public opinion poll when you read the information there. But also, jurors are a cross-section of the community. So whatever the population was inclined to do, the jury did too. “, he said. dit.
San Francisco lawyer Warrington Parker says that while Depp was given a lot more money, that’s not what gave him the victory.
“Johnny Depp’s main comeback from this verdict is gaining a reputation.”
Legal experts say Amber Heard is likely to appeal the verdict. (AP: Tom Brenner)
At the trial, Depp also spoke of the physical abuse he suffered by Mrs. Heard.
“[He] he appeared before that jury and said, “I have been abused,” Ward said.
“And I think, I remember, it’s a mostly male jury. And I think some of them could have said that no man would stand up in front of the whole world and say that his wife had beaten him if it wasn’t true.”
He called it a risky strategy, but said Mrs Heard’s audio tape criticizing Mr Depp was the turning point.
“She didn’t sound like a victim there. She sounded like an abuser challenging him to dare to go ahead with it. And I think for me and all the evidence I heard, this was Johnny Depp’s most professional test. “And I think that could have taken the day off with the jury.”
Mr. Parker shares this view.
“I don’t think it can be lost sight of that this was very favorable to paint Amber Heard this way to win her defamation suit,” Parker said.
This is not the first time Depp has filed a defamation suit
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were married in 2015. She filed for divorce in 2016, citing irreconcilable differences. (Reuters: Suzanne Plunkett)
Once among Hollywood’s biggest stars, Depp said Mrs. Heard’s accusations cost him “everything.”
A new Pirates movie was suspended and Mr. Depp was replaced in the Fantastic Beasts movie franchise, a spin-off of Harry Potter.
Less than two years ago, Depp lost his defamation case in the UK High Court against the sensationalist newspaper The Sun over an article calling him a “women’s hitter”.
High Court Judge Andrew Nicol said he accepted Ms Heard’s allegations that he had violently assaulted her during their stormy five-year relationship.
In 2022, Depp’s lawyers filed the U.S. case in Fairfax County, Virginia, for the Washington Post to be printed there.
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