Amber Heard Appeals Johnny Depp’s $10 Million Defamation Verdict; Want a turnaround or a new try?

Less than a month after Johnny Depp filed his formal appeal against part of the verdict in his massive defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, she Rum diary Co-Star has now filed her own letter with the Virginia courts

And Heard’s new lawyers raise the First Amendment banner and repeatedly challenge Judge Penney Azcarate.

“The court wrongly dismissed this lawsuit on that basis Forum not helpful, based on the erroneous conclusion that Depp’s claims arose in Virginia because the Washington Post servers are located here,” Jay Ward Brown and David L. Axelrod said in the Nov. 23 filing. “The trial court also erred in overruling Heard’s objection, holding that the challenged statements were non-actionable statements of opinion and were not reasonably capable of conveying the alleged defamatory implication,” according to the DC Constitutional Law Added Ballard Spahr LLP Attorneys (read the appeal here).

“If this persistence continues, it will no doubt have a chilling effect on other women who want to speak out about abuse involving powerful men.”

Heard further criticized Judge Azcarate for misinstructing the jury in the Fairfax County case, which ended almost entirely in Depp’s favor on June 1, “eliminating strong conclusive evidence and allowing irrelevant and prejudicial evidence” to reach a verdict against them to be reversed or thrown out for a new trial.

“This case should never have gone to court either, because another court has already concluded that Depp abused Heard on several occasions,” reads the plaintiff’s 68-page letter. “After Depp brought this case, in a separate defamation lawsuit brought by Depp, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Heard’s allegations of abuse were true,” reads the appeal memo of the ultimately unsuccessful defamation lawsuit.Pirates of the Caribbean Star vs. Rupert Murdoch’s The sun tabloid in 2018 for calling him a “wife beater” in print.

“The court should have overturned the 129-page ruling that followed a three-week trial in which Depp, Heard and 24 other witnesses testified.” Aquarius According to Star’s latest request.

Depp sued his ex-wife Heard in March 2019 for $50 million in late 2018 Washington Post op-ed under Heards byline. In the article, the ambassador for the American Civil Liberties Union wrote about becoming a “public figure who represents domestic violence.”

Although Heard never mentioned her ex-husband by name in Jeff Bezos’ Broadsheet article, Depp’s controversial past has prompted the public to “ruin” his already waning career. In his first lawsuit and subsequent charges, Depp stated that he was in fact the one who was abused in the couple’s relationship. The actor repeated this claim on the witness stand at the Virginia trial. Oddly, Depp said nothing of the sort during his and Heard’s 2016 divorce, even before the $7 million settlement between the two actually stopped him from doing so.

Because the case was not dismissed or moved to another jurisdiction like California Heard, Depp sued for $100 million in the summer of 2020. In November 2020, the British High Court awarded Depp punitive damages in the case against The Sun. Since then, appeal efforts this side of the Atlantic have proved a dead letter for Depp.

After both sides promised to appeal within hours of the June 1 jury verdict, Depp filed his own appeal in the Virginia case in early November. “This court should reverse its judgment on Ms. Heard’s counterclaim regarding the April 27 Waldman statement, but otherwise affirm the judgment in favor of Mr. Depp,” states the complaint filed Nov. 3 in Virginia court is about the $2 million the Virginia jury awarded Heard in a counterclaim.

Besides that one counterclaim in the seven-week defamation lawsuit, the seven-member panel found Depp hard. Pushed by fans in and out of court, the former Oscar nominee was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Before discharging the jury, Judge Azcarate reduced the award to $350,000, the maximum allowable in the state.

Notable at the time, the $2 counterclaim price could be the Achilles heel for the first case, at least according to Heard’s legal team.

“The resulting jury verdict against Heard on all of Depp’s claims cannot be reconciled with the jury verdict against Depp on Heard’s counterclaim,” reads Heard’s appeal, which was filed just before Thanksgiving.

“To rule in Depp’s favor, the jury must have concluded that Depp did not abuse Heard and that Heard knowingly lied in accusing him of abuse,” the sealed document states. “But for Heard to be in his favor, the jury had to have concluded that Heard was telling the truth about being a victim of domestic violence at the hands of Depp. Consequently, the judgment against Heard cannot stand.”

Now that both Depp and Head have filed their respective appeals, one would think things would move at a brisk pace, at least by the standards of the American justice system.

In this case, not so much.

Under Virginia law, a panel of judges will now decide the merits of both appeals. Depending on how things go and who is left disappointed, Heard and Depp could take the case to the Commonwealth Supreme Court. Which means it will be years before it is solved, if it ever is real.