Amber Heard has filed an enchantment towards her ex-husband Johnny Depp’s US libel lawsuit win.
Following a trial lasting a number of weeks earlier within the yr, a jury in Virginia present in favour of Depp, ruling {that a} 2018 Washington Post article written by Heard was defamatory.
The actor was awarded $15m (£12m) by the court docket – comprising $10m (£8m) compensatory damages and an extra $5m (£4m) in punitive damages – however the decide capped the punitive damages in accordance with authorized limits, leading to a complete of $10.35m (round £8.5m).
Depp’s case was that Heard defamed him within the article, by which she described herself as a sufferer of home abuse.
While she didn’t point out the 59-year-old by identify, he argued that the implication was clear – and denied allegations of abuse.
The Court of Appeals of Virginia obtained a gap transient for Heard’s enchantment on 23 November and US media outlet Deadline has shared particulars of the 68-page report. It comes after the Aquaman actress filed an official discover that she would enchantment earlier in the summertime.
Heard, 36, is asking for the unique verdict to be dismissed, or for a brand new trial to be held, based on the doc.
Lawyers for the actress argue that Depp and the case have “no meaningful connection” to Virginia and that it was “wholly inconvenient” for him to sue there reasonably than California – the place “both parties lived and where Depp claimed to have suffered reputational harm”.
They mentioned Fairfax County Court, the place the trial befell, was “mistaken” in its conclusion that Depp’s claims arose within the state as a result of the Washington Post’s servers are positioned there.
They have additionally argued that the case mustn’t have gone to trial in any respect within the US following the decision in Depp’s separate case towards The Sun within the UK in 2020, which he misplaced – the decide in that case dominated an article printed by the newspaper about abuse allegations towards Depp was “substantially true”.
Heard’s attorneys additionally say that there have been “evidentiary errors that severely prejudiced” the actress through the US trial.
The US trial verdict
After six weeks of testimony, the Depp v Heard court docket case got here to an finish on 1 June, with the jury discovering {that a} 2018 article Heard wrote for the Washington Post, about her alleged experiences as a survivor of home abuse, was defamatory in direction of Depp.
Heard gained on one rely of her counter-suit, efficiently arguing that one in all Depp’s attorneys defamed her by claiming her allegations had been “an abuse hoax” geared toward capitalising on the #MeToo motion.
The jury awarded her $2m (£1.5m) in damages.
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Following the US trial verdict, Depp has been throwing himself into his music profession, performing with Jeff Beck and saying a tour for his rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires in 2023.
He additionally made a shock cameo on the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards – joking with the viewers he “needed the work” as he was projected on stage dressed as an astronaut.
Sky News has contacted representatives for Depp and Heard for remark.
Source: information.sky.com”