Amber Heard’s legal team filed a motion Friday requesting that the libel trial ruling against ex-husband Johnny Depp be thrown, including $10.35 million in damages awarded by the jury to Depp.
In addition to Heard’s attorneys arguing that the ruling is unsupported by evidence, 43 page document It was submitted to the Fairfax County Circuit Court on Friday and also calls for an “investigation of improper juror service,” claiming that public information indicates that one of the jurors who served during the trial was born in 1970, although court officials cited their birth year in 1945. .
Heard’s lawyers wrote, “This discrepancy raises the question whether juror 15 actually received a summons to serve on jury and was properly examined by the court for jury work.”
Heard’s legal team also argues that the $10.35 million jury award against the actress is “inconsistent and irreconcilable” with the jury’s conclusion that she and Depp slandered each other. In addition to Depp’s $10 million in damages, plus $350,000 in punitive damages, the jury also awarded Heard $2 million in damages for her counterclaim.
“Mr. Depp has provided no evidence that Ms. Heard does not believe she was mistreated,” Heard’s lawyers wrote. “Therefore, Mr. Depp did not meet the legal requirements for actual malice, and the judgment should be overturned.”
Depp’s senior attorney, Ben Chiu, commented on the request to overturn the ruling, calling it “what we expected, no more objective” in a statement to Courthouse News.
The trial began when Depp, the plaintiff in the case, sued Heard for defamation in connection with a 2018 Washington Post article she published in reference to her earlier allegations of abuse. Although the opinion piece did not directly mention the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, Depp claimed that it damaged his reputation and spoiled his career. A year before the opinion piece was published, Heard and Depp separated after two years of marriage, and Heard alleged that Depp had subjected her to emotional, physical and sexual abuse throughout their relationship.
In 2020, ahead of a US trial, the High Court of London ruled against Depp in a separate defamation case, after the actor sued The Sun for calling him a “wife racket”. The UK court ruled that he assaulted Heard in 12 of the 14 alleged incidents.
Since the trial ended in June, Heard has appeared for interviews about the situation, describing the seven-week legal battle that has erupted in the public eye for “Today” as “the most humiliating and outrageous thing.” [she had] since when. “
Watchman He was the first to report extensively on Heard’s proposal to overturn the ruling.
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