According to Judge Penney Azcarate, it appears that the jury may have held at least one of the parties liable, but did not fill in the monetary damages it would award. Jurors were instructed to decide whether to award compensatory and punitive damages if they found any party responsible for the defamation.
“When you find for a defamatory statement one or more, you have to file for compensatory damages,” Azcarate told jurors in a public hearing. “It should be at least $ 1 and up to what you think the damage should be. For punitive damages, you can put a 0 in it or you can fill it in like us.”
Depp sued Heard for $ 50 million in defamation in a 2018 opinion piece he wrote for The Washington Post in which he described himself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Although Depp was not named in the article, he claims it cost him lucrative acting roles. Heard sued for $ 100 million, for statements Depp’s attorney made about his abuse claims. Heard and Depp met in 2009 and were married between 2015 and 2016.
The defamation trial has been underway since April and jurors have heard more than 100 hours of testimony in total. They have heard dozens of witnesses, including Depp and Heard’s live testimony, and deliberated for nearly 14 hours before reaching a verdict.
Depp is not in court over the verdict because of “pre-scheduled work commitments,” a source close to Depp told CNN, adding that “he will be watching from the UK.”
Heard is awaiting verdict.