Source: Vanityfair JUNE 1, 2022
Johnny Depp has won his case against his ex-wife Amber Heard. After six weeks of arguments from either side, and about 12 hours over three days of deliberation, the Virginia jury has decided that Heard is liable for three counts of defamation.
The jury answered “yes” on this jury form for each of the three statements, including two sentences and the headline, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” In short, the jury found that not only “the statement was false” but was made with “actual malice.”
They awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages, and saddled Heard with punitive damages of $5 million, totaling a $15 million payment. In Virginia, however, punitive payments are capped at $350,000, so the total damages are $10.35 million.
Heard levied a simultaneous defamation case against Depp, in which she countersued him for $100 million after Depp’s lawyer called her claims a “hoax” in the Daily Mail, among other statements. The jury found Depp not liable on two counts of defamation regarding statements made by Depp’s then lawyer Adam Waldman, and liable on one count—the latter being the statement, “Quite simply this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops but the first attempt didn’t do the trick. The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to face or property. 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.”
They’ve awarded Heard compensatory damages of $2 million.