With her latest move in the aftermath of coming up short in her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp,Amber Heardis looking to have the court toss the verdict. Based on an op-ed penned by Heard in 2018, Depp had sued theAquamanstar for defamation, alleging that what his ex-wife had written was false and tarnished his career. Heard countersued and insisted that she was being truthful, arguing that Depp was defaming her by saying that she was the one who’d abused him.
In any case, the jury found Heard guilty of all three counts of alleged defamation, agreeing with Depp that her allegations of domestic abuse had been “false and defamatory.” The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages (later reduced to $10.35 million). Depp was also found liable for one of three counts of defamation in Heard’s counterclaim and ordered to pay $2 million. Given the damages owed, the trial verdict has mostly been seen as a big win forJohnny Depp.
But Heard’s legal team has put forth effort in their attempts to get the verdict tossed. PerTMZ, they have formally filed new documentation in Virginia calling for the judge to either toss the verdict, dismiss the complaint, or order an all-new trial with a different jury. One of the biggest arguments put forth in the docs alleges a lack of sufficient evidence that Heard’s op-ed had harmed Depp’s career; she argues that his public image had already been tarnished by his own behavior by 2018. Heard’s attorneys also argue that Depp’s team failed to prove she had acted with malice when she wrote the op-ed, nor did they prove that Heard did not actually believe the words she had written in the Washington Post story.
In another bizarre twist to the never-ending legal battle, Heard’s lawyers also claim that one of the jurors was not legitimate. The unnamed juror, cited as Juror #15, has a listed birth year of 1945. Team Heard claims the juror is clearly much younger than that, supposedly having been born in 1970. Whatever the case may be, Heard’s lawyers say that if the juror was not truthful, then the verdict needs to be tossed with a new jury that has been better vetted by the court.
Related:These Are the Best Amber Heard Movies
Amber Heard May Switch From Acting to Writing
Amber Heard’s lawyers have maintained that they plan to appeal the verdict, but at the same time, they’ve also admitted that the actress does not currently have the money to afford the necessary costs for an appeal. But with her acting career taking a hit due to the controversy stemming from the trial, Heard seems to be finding other ways to make money. It has been reported thatshe will write a tell-all bookopening up about her relationship with Johnny Depp, though she may want to be careful with that venture, otherwise she could wind up back in court.
The legal battle continues with the ball now in the judge’s court, pending Heard’s request to have the verdict dismissed.
