Judge rejects Amber Heard's request to waive Johnny Depp's defamation win
A Virginia judge has dismissed Amber Heard’s efforts to override the $10 million ($14.8 million) judgment she was given in favor of her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Key points:
- Earlier this month, Amber Heard filed a motion requesting that Johnny Depp’s ruling be overturned or declared invalid
- Her lawyer cited a case of mistaken identity with one of the jurors, claiming that it may have been prejudice against Ms Heard
- Judge says Ms Heard can’t show jury prejudice
Depp won a defamation suit against Ms Heard last month in a high-profile civil court.
Ms Heard won the smaller, $US2 million judgment on the counterclaim she filed against Depp.
Earlier this month, Heard filed a motion asking that Depp’s sentence be overturned, or declared invalid.
His lawyer cited several factors, including a case of mistaken identity with one of the jurors.
However, on Wednesday in a written order, Judge Penney Azcarate dismissed all of Ms Heard’s claims and said that the jury matter was specifically irrelevant and Ms Heard did not show that this jury had prejudiced Ms Heard.
“The jury examined, sat down for the entire jury, deliberated and reached a verdict,” Judge Azcarate wrote.
“The only evidence before this court is that this jury and all jurors followed their oaths, instructions and court orders,” he said.
“This trial is bound by the decision of a competent jury.”
Mr Depp sued $50 million in Fairfax County after Ms Heard wrote a 2018 opinion piece in The Washington Post about domestic violence in which he described himself as a “public figure representing domestic violence”.
The article never mentioned Depp by name, but his lawyers said sections of the article defamed him, by implication, by referring to the published harassment allegations he made in 2016 when he filed for divorce.
Ms Heard later filed a $100 million countersuit, also for defamation.
By the time the case was heard, the counterclaim had been reduced to statements made by one of Depp’s attorneys, calling Heard’s allegations of abuse a hoax.
The jury awarded $US15 million to Mr Depp and $US2 million to Ms Heard for his counterclaim.
The $15 million judgment was reduced to $10.35 million, because Virginia law limits damages to $350,000.
The judge did not explain why he rejected Ms Heard’s other claims in Wednesday’s order.
Juror #15 and the case of mistaken identity
Among other things, Ms Heard argued that the $10 million verdict was unsupported by facts and appeared to suggest that the jury failed to focus on the impact of the 2018 op-ed — as they should have — and, instead, only saw widespread damage to Depp’s reputation as a as a result of the alleged abuse.
Ms Heard’s lawyers also argued that the verdicts for Mr Depp on the one hand and Ms Heard on the other were fundamentally unreasonable.
“The jury’s ruling is inconsistent and irreconcilable,” wrote his lawyers, Elaine Bredehoft and Benjamin Rottenborn.
Ms Heard’s lawyers also challenged the ruling on the grounds that one of the seven jurors who decided the case was never called up for jury duty.
According to court documents, a 77-year-old county resident received a jury summons.
However, the man’s son, who had the same name and lived at the same address, responded to the call and took his place.
Ms Heard’s attorney argued that Virginia law was strict about jury identity, and the case of mistaken identity was the reason for the annulment of the trial.
They have shown no evidence that the 52-year-old son, identified in court documents only as Juror #15, intentionally or covertly sought to succeed his father, but they argued that the possibility should not be ruled out.
“The court cannot assume, as Mr Depp requested, that the apparently inappropriate service of Juror 15 was an innocent mistake. It could have been a deliberate attempt to serve the jury of a high-profile case,” Ms Heard’s attorney wrote.
Ms Heard still has the ability to appeal the ruling to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
The matter brought before the appeals court could be different from the one Judge Azcarate dismissed on Wednesday.
In a separate order, the judge ordered that dozens of court documents be opened, including a motion requiring independent medical examinations of Depp and Heard.
Some documents will remain sealed, mostly because they contain personal contact information or personal medical information.
“In this case, the two litigants are suing each other, thereby exposing themselves to the public forum of jury trials … court records are public information,” Judge Azcarate wrote.
AP
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