Amber Heard has officially appealed her defamation case against Johnny Depp, nearly two months after she was ordered to pay her ex-husband over $10 million in damages.
Attorneys representing the 36-year-old actress filed a complaint Thursday to appeal the ruling in the Virginia Court of Appeals in Fairfax County, court filings obtained by show.
The move comes just a week after Heard was denied a request for a new trial.
In June, the Aquaman star was ordered to pay Depp $10.35 million in damages at the end of a explosive six-week trial when a jury ruled that she had defamed the Pirates of the Caribbean star in a newspaper opinion published in 2018.
Amber Heard appealed the verdict in her defamation case against Johnny Depp on Thursday, court documents obtained by show
The actress was ordered to pay her ex-husband, the actor, $10.35 million in damages after a jury found she defamed him in a 2018 comment about domestic violence
Depp, 59, was awarded a total of $15 million — $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
The judge later capped damages to the state maximum of $350,000, leaving Depp a total of $8.35 million.
In contrast, Heard won only one of her three countersuits, which related to statements by Depp’s attorney that she and her friends vandalized her home before calling the police.
The jury ultimately awarded her only $2 million in compensatory damages out of the $100 million she was seeking and zero dollars in punitive damages.
Depp’s representatives reiterated their confidence in the court’s decision in a statement to following Heard’s appeal.
“The jury heard the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr Depp on multiple counts. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand,” said a rep for the actor.
Earlier this month, Heard’s attorneys asked the judge to overturn the decision and declare a mistrial, arguing that one of the jurors should not have served on the case because his subpoena was for his father, who shared the same name and lived at the same address.
Heard, 36, won just one of her three counterclaims in the explosive six-week trial earlier this year. The jury only awarded her $2 million in damages out of the $100 million she was seeking
Depp, 59, was awarded a total of $15 million before the judge capped damages at the state maximum of $350,000, leaving him with $8.35 million. The actor (pictured at a rehearsal in Italy on Sunday) has been touring Europe with British musician Jeff Beck since his win in early June
Depp had sued Heard, arguing that she defamed him when she described herself as “a public figure who advocates domestic violence” in a 2018 op-ed piece published in The Washington Post. The couple married in 2015 before splitting just over a year later
The motion was denied in a written order last Wednesday, with Judge Penny Azcarate ruling that there was “no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing” by the jury and that the jury’s verdict should stand.
She also noted that both sides had questioned and accepted all jurors early in the trial.
“Due process has been guaranteed and made available to all parties in this litigation,” Azcarate wrote.
In the 43-page memorandum, filed July 1, Heard’s attorneys had also argued that the verdict — and the $10 million in damages it now owes Depp — should be overturned on the grounds that Depp was killed during the Trial solely for defamation was implication theory, which abandons any claim that Ms Heard’s statements were in fact false.’
Depp’s lead attorney, Ben Chew, responded to the request in a statement to Courthouse News, saying, “What we expected, only longer, no longer substantial.”
Heard has also said she is unable to pay the $10.35 million in damages she owes Depp.
Although she has previously indicated that she would like to appeal the verdict, it would require posting bail for the full damages.
Court documents obtained by show that Judge Penny Azcarate denied Heard’s request to have the sentence overturned in a written order last week
It is likely that the mistrial motion was an attempt to circumvent these requirements while overturning the decision in this case.
The motion cast doubt on the validity of the jury selection process and pointed to one juror, identified as Jury 15, whose year of birth was listed in the court records as 1945.
The filing argued that juror 15 “was clearly born after 1945. Publicly available information shows that he was apparently born in 1970”.
Judge Penney Azcarate ruled that there was “no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing” by the jury and that the jury’s verdict should stand
“This discrepancy raises the question of whether juror 15 actually received a jury service subpoena and was properly reviewed by the court to serve on the jury.”
“It appears that his identity could not be verified,” the filing said.
Depp had sued Heard, arguing that she defamed him when she described herself as “a public figure who advocates domestic violence” in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post.
Depp denied hitting Heard and said she was the one who became violent in their relationship.
Heard countered, saying Depp smeared her when his attorney called her allegations a “hoax”. The jury awarded Heard $2 million in damages for one of her counterclaims. Heard said she only hit Depp to defend herself or her sister.
During an interview on Good Morning America in June, Chew suggested that Depp might be willing to waive millions of dollars in damages owed to him should Heard agree not to appeal.
However, Heard’s attorneys missed that opportunity during the June 24 hearing when they refused to enter into such an agreement and Azcarate finalized the verdict, leaving Heard’s only way forward on appeal.
To do so, however, Heard would still have to raise the money to post $10.35 million bail while the appeal is pending — a common practice.