The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor has filed an appeal to overturn the $2 million jury verdict handed to his ex-wife in June, calling it an 'erroneous' ruling.
- November 4, 2022
AceShowbiz - Johnny Depp refuses to pay Amber Heard $2 million which was awarded to her in the defamation trial. The actor has filed an appeal to toss the jury verdict handed to his ex-wife at the end of their battle in court over her op-ed article in which she detailed her experience as the victim of domestic abuse.
The "Alice in Wonderland" star filed the court documents on Thursday, November 3 in Virginia's Court of Appeals. He seeks to overturn the $2 million jury verdict handed to the actress, calling it an "erroneous" ruling.
In June, Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages, while jurors ruled in Heard's favor on one count over her claims that Depp defamed her when his lawyer Adam Waldman claimed in an interview that her allegations were a hoax.
Waldman said in the interview, "So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911."
"The judgment in Ms. Heard's favor on that lone statement is erroneous," Depp's 44-page appellate brief states. In the appeal, Depp makes the point that his lawyer said that, not him, and he shouldn't be held responsible for Waldman's remarks. Additionally, his lawyer claims that Heard's team failed to prove Waldman made those comments with malice.
Amber herself has filed an appeal to overturn the verdict in Depp's favor. In the court documents filed in October, she complained that records, including medical records, were not lodged as evidence.
Her 16-point appeal paper also shows she believes the court "erred" in not allowing into evidence the fact that the 59-year-old actor lost a similar defamation trial against Amber in the United Kingdom, along with his statements that followed the loss. Her legal team also condemned the court for allowing testimony about Heard's false claim she had donated $3.5 million to the American Civil Liberties Union from her divorce settlement from Depp.
She argued that the court mistakenly allowed Depp to argue or suggest damages could be awarded based on statements made before the publication of her op-ed piece for the Washington Post. Her article about sexual violence, printed in 2018, didn't name the actor as an abuser but he said it was defamatory to his character.
