Amber looks to appeal
Lawyer says evidence issues led to $10M slam
A lawyer for actress Amber Heard said Thursday she wants to appeal the verdict in the defamation case brought against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp — and that she has “some excellent grounds” to do so.
Attorney Elaine Bredehoft contended on NBC’s “Today” show that “a number of things were allowed in this court that should not have been allowed.”
“(Depp’s attorneys) were able to suppress the medical records, which were very, very significant because they showed a pattern going all the way back to 2012 of Amber reporting this to her therapist, for example,” Bredehoft said.
“We had significant amount of texts, including from Mr. Depp’s assistants saying, ‘When I told him he kicked you, he cried.’ ”
Depp, 58, sued his ex-wife Heard, 36, for $50 million over a 2018 op-ed in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The piece didn’t name Depp, but Heard had previously accused the actor of domestic violence, which he denied.
Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim over comments made by a Depp attorney painting her allegations as a hoax.
The seven-member jury said Wednesday that Depp should get $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages after reaching their decision on the third day of deliberations at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Virginia.
Judge Penney Azcarate lowered the overall judgment to $10.35 million because punitive damages are limited in the state. Heard was awarded $2 million through her countersuit.
Bredehoft said Heard isn’t able to pay the $10.35 million in damages, and said she believes the jurors were likely aware of the massive attention the trial received on social media.
“How can you not?” Bredehoft asked. “They went home every night. They have families. The families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judicial conference. There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it.”
Depp previously lost a libel lawsuit against the publisher of British tabloid The Sun over an article calling him a “wife beater,” with a High Court judge ruling the claims were “substantially true.”
“What did Depp’s team learn from this? Demonize Amber and suppress the evidence,” Bredehoft said. “We had an enormous amount of evidence that was suppressed in this case that was in the U.K. case.”
Heard’s legal team was unsuccessful in using the U.K. case to get Depp’s defamation trial dismissed in Virginia, Bredehoft said.
The verdict followed a sixweek trial in which Depp denied abusing Heard and claimed she was physically violent toward him. Heard denied abusing Depp while accusing him of domestic violence and of substance abuse issues.
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” Heard said in a statement Wednesday. “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband.
“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback.”
Depp, meanwhile, said in a statement that “The jury gave my life back. I am truly humbled.”