By MATTHEW BARAKAT and DENISE LAVOIE
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A Virginia choose on Wednesday rejected an effort by actress Amber Heard to put aside the $10 million judgment awarded in opposition to her in favor of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.
Depp gained a defamation go well with in opposition to Heard final month in a high-profile civil trial. Heard gained a smaller, $2 million judgement on a counterclaim she filed in opposition to Depp.
Earlier this month, Heard filed a movement in search of to have Depp’s verdict put aside, or have a mistrial declared. Her legal professionals cited a number of components, together with an obvious case of mistaken id with one of many jurors.
In a written order, Judge Penney Azcarate rejected all of Heard’s claims and stated the juror problem particularly was irrelevant and that Heard can’t present she was prejudiced.
“The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict. The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury,” Azcarate wrote.
Depp sued for $50 million in Fairfax County after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post about home violence wherein she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article by no means talked about Depp by identify, however his legal professionals stated a number of passages within the article defamed him by implication by referring to extremely publicized abuse allegations she made in 2016 as she filed for divorce.
Heard then filed a $100 million counterclaim, additionally for defamation. By the time the case went to trial, her counterclaim had been whittled down to a couple statements made by one among Depp’s legal professionals, who known as Heard’s abuse allegations a hoax.
The jury awarded $15 million to Depp and $2 million to Heard on her counterclaim. The $15 million judgment was decreased to $10.35 million as a result of Virginia regulation caps punitive damages at $350,000.
The choose didn’t spell out rationale for rejecting Heard’s different claims in Wednesday’s order.
Among different issues, Heard argued that the $10 million verdict is unsupported by the info, and appears to exhibit that jurors did not give attention to the fallout from the 2018 op-ed piece — as they have been alleged to do — and as a substitute simply seemed broadly on the injury Depp’s popularity suffered because of the alleged abuse.
Heard’s legal professionals additionally argued argue that the verdicts for Depp on one hand and Heard on the opposite are essentially nonsensical.
“The jury’s dueling verdicts are inconsistent and irreconcilable,” her legal professionals, Elaine Bredehoft and Benjamin Rottenborn, wrote.
Heard’s legal professionals additionally challenged the decision on the premise that one of many seven jurors who determined the case was by no means summoned for jury obligation. According to courtroom papers, a 77-year-old county resident acquired a jury summons. But the person’s son, who has the identical identify and lives on the similar deal with, responded to the summons and served in his stead.
Heard’s legal professionals argued that Virginia regulation is strict about juror identities, and the case of mistaken id is grounds for a mistrial. They offered no proof that the 52-year-old son, recognized in courtroom papers solely as Juror #15, purposefully or insidiously sought to interchange his father, however they argue that chance shouldn’t be discounted.
“The Court cannot assume, as Mr. Depp asks it to, that Juror 15’s apparently improper service was an innocent mistake. It could have been an intentional attempt to serve on the jury of a high-profile case,” Heard’s legal professionals wrote.
Heard nonetheless has the power to attraction the decision to the Virginia Court of Appeals. The points offered to the appellate courtroom might properly be completely different from the problems Azcarate rejected Wednesday.
In a separate order, the choose ordered that dozens of courtroom paperwork be unsealed, together with motions in search of to compel unbiased medical examinations of each Depp and Heard. A handful of paperwork will stay sealed, principally as a result of they include private contact info or private medical info.
“In this matter, both litigants sued one another, thereby opening themselves up to the public forum of a jury trial. Court records are public information,” Azcarate wrote.
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An earlier model of this text incorrectly acknowledged that Depp sued for $25 million and that Heard’s counterclaim sought $50 million. ___
Lavoie reported from Richmond.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”