Johnny Depp is back on the offensive against Amber Heard. The actor, who was awarded $10 million in damages, has said through his lawyers that he refuses to pay his estranged wife damages he is owed, estimated at $2 million last June after a highly publicized trial.
Last June, the seven members of the jury of the Fairfax (Virginia) court had judged that Johnny Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, had made defamatory comments when describing Amber Heard’s allegations of sexual violence as “set up” in the registry. daily mail in 2020. Thus, Johnny Depp had been found guilty of libel and ordered to pay $2 million in damages to Amber Heard.
But the comedian has since called the trial “misguided,” saying the jury “overwhelmingly” backed him. Despite “a favorable verdict” for Johnny Depp, “the trial was marked by numerous legal problems and […] some decisions are wrong,” the legal team said in a post on the site. Law and Crime Network.
Assuring that “no evidence of Mr. Waldman’s malice was shown at trial,” Johnny Depp’s lawyers stated that “Mr. Waldman was self-employed and that his conduct could in no way be automatically attributed to Mr. Depp.” . And the lawyers add: “The court should reconsider its sentence on the complaint of Mrs. Heard […] and must affirm its judgment in favor of Mr. Depp.”
An appeal trial is looming
Johnny Depp’s appeal comes weeks after a backlash from Amber Heard, who has hired a new team of lawyers to prepare his appeal.
A spokesman for the actress said that attorney Elaine Bredehoft, omnipresent during the six-week trial, had withdrawn. She is succeeded by David L. Axelrod and Jay Ward Brown, known to have successfully defended the New York Times when Sarah Palin sued the famous newspaper for defamation.
“A new trial involves different lawyers, especially when new evidence is discovered,” the actress’s lawyers said in a statement. Attorney Ben Rottenborn, who has worked for Amber Heard since the beginning of the trial, stands by her side.
Doubts about the identity of one of the jurors
After a high-profile trial, Amber Heard was ordered to pay $10 million to Johnny Depp, who accused her of defamation for an article in the Washington Post in 2018 in which he claimed to have been a victim of “domestic violence”. amber heard got that the actor pays him $2 million.
Amber Heard had first tried to have the verdict overturned to relaunch a new procedure due to doubts about the identity of one of the jurors. A request that Judge Penney Azcarate, who presided over the proceedings in the Fairfax court, refused on July 13, believing that the actress had “been unharmed”.
Amber Heard had already announced her intention to appeal at the end of June through her lawyer, Elaine Bredehott. The day after the verdict, she had also indicated that the actress could not payment “absolutely not” 10 million in damages to Johnny Depp.
Source: BFM TV
