Amber Heard Asks Court To Dismiss Johnny Depp's Defamation Verdict Against Her

Amber Heard's attorneys requested a judge in the Fairfax County Circuit Court on Friday to overturn the jury's finding that the actress had defamed her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

Heard's legal team argued that the judgment, which totaled more than $10 million, lacked sufficient justification in a 43-page memorandum. They disputed Depp's claim that Heard's remarks in an op-ed caused him to lose his position in "Pirates of the Caribbean."

They further alleged that at least one juror had not undergone the required screening by court personnel.

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The lawyers requested that the court order a new trial, dismiss the complaint, or completely overturn the ruling in Depp's favor.

Depp “proceeded solely on a defamation by implication theory, abandoning any claims that Ms. Heard’s statements were false,” argues the court brief, signed by Elaine Bredehoft, Heard’s lead attorney.

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Head of Depp's legal team Ben Chew dismissed Heard's request as "what we expected, just longer, no more substantive" in an email.

A six-week trial between the two stars from early April to early June centered on Depp's claims that a 2018 op-ed that ran in The Washington Post under Heard's byline had defamed him.

In the piece, Heard detailed how she had come to be associated with domestic violence and specifically mentioned the time two years prior, in 2016, when she filed a temporary restraining order against Depp.

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Three assertions in the op-ed by Heard, one of which was a headline that Heard did not write, were determined by the jury to have defamed Depp. "Ms. Heard never even became aware of the headline until Mr. Depp brought the action against her," the court brief claims.

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Heard tweeted the article, and the tweet included the headline. But in addition to the tweet, she also sent a message.

And in jury instructions, Chief Judge Penney Azcarate wrote, “merely linking to an article does not amount to republication but adding content to a linked article may constitute republication.” She told the jury they must determine “whether any added content was intended to reach a new audience.”

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Heard’s lawyers argued that republication requires “editing and retransmitting the defamatory material or redistributing the material to reach a new audience.” Heard, they argued, “never edited or played any role with the respect to the headline” and the tweet she added does not constitute editing the article.

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Depp's award is the subject of another section of the motion. The jury reached a divided decision, concluding that the two had defamed one another. Depp, 59, was first given a $10 million compensation damage decision and a $5 million punitive damage award, but the judge lowered the latter to the legal maximum of $350,000.

The jury also determined that a remark made by one of Depp's lawyers had defamed Heard, 36. She received no punitive damages and a compensatory damages award of $2 million. Interest was fixed by the judge's decision at 6% per year for both sums.

Heard's attorneys argued that Depp and his legal team widened the scope of damages against the actress throughout the trial, which they claimed made Depp's award exorbitant. According to the legal brief, Depp "indicated to the court he would restrict his losses to the period Dec. 18, 2018, through Nov. 2, 2020."

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As a result of Ms. Heard accusing Mr. Depp of domestic violence in May 2016, Depp "continued to urge the jury to restore his name and legacy to his children." Additionally, Heard's attorneys requested that the court looks into any potential instances of illegal jury service.

On a court list, the juror’s birthday was 1945. But the juror, identified in the filing as Juror 15, “was born later than 1945. Publicly available information demonstrates that he appears to have been born in 1970. This discrepancy raises the question of whether Juror 15 actually received a summons for jury duty and was properly vetted by the court to serve on the jury.”

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