The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard libel trial, which generated intense pastime for 2 months previous this yr as a livestreamed, no-holds-barred cleaning soap opera that includes considered one of Hollywood’s largest stars, isn’t fading away quietly.
Previous this month, Heard’s legal professionals filed a 51-page movement asking Pass judgement on Penney Azcarate to put aside the jury’s verdict, which gave $10 million to Depp and $2 million to Heard on competing defamation claims.
The movement cites a couple of causes that the decision is untenable, from the sudden choice to claim all sides victorious to at least one extent or any other, to a peculiar case of wrong identification with probably the most jurors.
A few of the problems raised:
Why $10 million?
Depp sued for $25 million in Fairfax County after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Submit about home violence through which she referred to herself as “a public determine representing home abuse.” The thing by no means discussed Depp through identify, however his legal professionals stated a number of passages within the article defamed him through implication through regarding extremely publicized abuse allegations she made in 2016 as she filed for divorce.
Heard then filed a $50 million counterclaim, additionally for defamation. By the point the case went to trial, her counterclaim have been whittled right down to a couple of statements made through considered one of Depp’s legal professionals, who referred to as Heard’s abuse allegations a hoax.
The jury awarded $15 million to Depp and $2 million to Heard on her counterclaim. The $15 million judgment was once diminished to $10.35 million as a result of Virginia regulation caps punitive damages at $350,000.
Heard’s legal professionals say in court docket papers that the $10 million verdict is unsupported through the information, and turns out to exhibit that jurors failed to concentrate on the fallout from the 2018 op-ed piece — as they had been intended to do — and as an alternative simply seemed widely on the injury Depp’s popularity suffered on account of the alleged abuse.
Depp’s legal professionals, regardless that, say the damages are supported through testimony from his agent and others. They are saying the precedents cited through Heard’s workforce to give a boost to her arguments “are many years outdated, and none comes to a global A-list famous person.”
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard had been married from 2015-2017. (Photograph: AP/Report)
Steve Cochran, a civil attorney in Virginia who was once appointed through a pass judgement on as a impartial conciliator within the case to take a look at to reduce pretrial discovery disputes, stated he all the time believed the weakest hyperlink in Depp’s case was once the damages, given proof that the actor’s popularity have been ruined in Hollywood smartly earlier than the newsletter of the op-ed. Nonetheless, he stated he’s skeptical that Heard can get the decision put aside.
Scott Surovell, a attorney and Democratic state senator who practices regulation in Fairfax, additionally stated he sees little explanation why to put aside the damages.
“What the pass judgement on seems to be for … is that the decision was once adequately supported at trial and wasn’t in accordance with hypothesis or conjecture. (Depp) makes some huge cash from motion pictures. That doesn’t sound to me just like the damages had been in accordance with hypothesis or conjecture, however on proof,” he stated.
“Inconsistent and irreconcilable”
Heard’s legal professionals argue that the verdicts for Depp on one hand and Heard at the different are essentially nonsensical.
“The jury’s dueling verdicts are inconsistent and irreconcilable,” her legal professionals wrote.
Depp’s legal professionals, regardless that, say the decision shape utilized by jurors allowed them to precise with specificity precisely which statements they discovered defamatory. While you take a look at the person statements, they are saying, the dueling verdicts make sense.
Jeremiah Denton III, a Virginia Seaside lawyer with enjoy in defamation instances, stated he doesn’t view the verdicts as irreconcilable. If anything else, he stated, the award maximum in jeopardy is the $2 million given to Heard, as a result of he stated it’s legally doubtful that Depp will also be held responsible for statements made through his lawyer.
“I don’t perceive why the pass judgement on even allowed that factor to visit the jury,” he stated.
Camille Vasquez represented Johnny Depp within the case. (Photograph: AP/Report)
Juror #15
One of the vital extra extraordinary pieces within the dialogue is a case of obvious wrong identification with probably the most jurors. In keeping with court docket papers, a 77-year-old county resident gained a summons for the trial. However the guy’s son, who has the similar identify and lives on the similar cope with, replied to the summons and served in his stead.
Heard’s legal professionals say Virginia regulation is strict about juror identities, and the case of wrong identification is grounds for a mistrial. They’ve introduced no proof that the 52-year-old son, known in court docket papers best as Juror #15, purposefully or insidiously sought to interchange his father, however they argue that chance will have to now not be discounted.
“The Courtroom can not think, as Mr. Depp asks it to, that Juror 15’s it sounds as if flawed carrier was once an blameless mistake. It might had been an intentional try to serve at the jury of a high-profile case,” Heard’s legal professionals wrote.
Paul Bekman, a Baltimore attorney who has additionally attempted instances in Virginia, stated Heard’s workforce had to elevate any problems in regards to the juror forward of time.
“Anyone having a look at a 52-year-old and a 77-year-old would be capable to inform — expectantly — that there’s a distinction of 25 years, and they’d have the proper to inquire about that,” he stated. “I consider it’s too overdue to whinge in regards to the juror.”
Cochran additionally stated he was once skeptical that the confusion may lead to a mistrial or the pass judgement on surroundings apart the decision, however he cautioned that it’s tricky to are expecting for the reason that factor is so uncommon.
“I’ve been working towards for fifty years and not noticed that factor arise,” he stated.
