Amber Heard has filed an appeal against her ex-husband Johnny Depp’s US defamation lawsuit victory.
Following a several-week trial earlier this year, a jury in Virginia found in favor Depp, establishing that a 2018 Washington Post article written by Heard it was defamatory.
The actor was awarded $15 million by the court – including $10m (£8m) in damages and an additional $5m (£4m) in punitive damages – but the judge limited the punitive damages in accordance with statutory limits, totaling $10m 35 million (about £8.5 million).
Depp’s case was that Heard vilified him in the article, in which he described himself as a victim of domestic abuse.
While he didn’t mention the 59-year-old’s name, he maintained the implication was clear and denied the abuse allegations.
The Virginia Court of Appeals received an opening brief for Heard’s appeal on Nov. 23, and US media outlet Deadline shared details of the 68-page report. It comes after the Aquaman actress filed an official notice that she would appeal in early summer.
Heard, 36, is asking for the original verdict to be dismissed or a new trial to be held, according to the document.
The actress’ attorneys argue that Depp and the case have “no significant connection” to Virginia and that it was “completely inconvenient” for him to sue there rather than in California – where “both parties lived and where Depp claimed to having suffered damage to his reputation”. .
They said the Fairfax County courthouse, where the trial took place, was “mistaken” in its conclusion that Depp’s claims arose in the state because the Washington Post’s servers are located there.
They also argued that the case should not have gone to trial in the US at all following the verdict in the separate case of Depp v. The Sun in the UK in 2020, which he lost – the judge in that case ruled an article published by the newspaper on the allegations of abuse against Depp was “essentially true”.
Heard’s attorneys also say there were “probatory errors that seriously prejudiced” the actress during her US trial.
The verdict of the US trial
After six weeks of testimony, the Depp v Heard court case concluded on June 1, with the jury finding that a 2018 article Heard wrote for the Washington Post about her alleged experiences as a domestic abuse survivor was defamatory of Depp.
Heard won on one count of her countersuit, successfully claiming that one of Depp’s lawyers libeled her by claiming her allegations were “an abuse hoax” aimed at capitalizing on the #MeToo movement.
The jury awarded her $2m (£1.5m) in damages.
Read more:
Amber Heard gives the first interview after the verdict
Depp could return to Fantastic Beasts, understudy says
Following the US trial verdict, Depp has jumped into his music career, performing with Jeff Beck and announcing a tour for his rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires in 2023.
It also has made a surprise cameo at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards – joking to the audience he “needed the work” as he was projected onto the stage dressed as an astronaut.
Sky News has reached out to representatives for Depp and Heard for comment.
