Aurora Starchild
Amber Heard and her legal team officially filed an appeal. The actress is planning to argue against to the recent jury decision to award her ex, Johnny Depp, with $10.35M.
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Heard was widely considered to lose her countersuit to his claim that she defamed him. However, now her attorneys are ready to try again.
A spokesperson for Amber Heard told news and media outlets that they believe they have adequate grounds for appeal.
“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment,” they said. “We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”
Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, has publicly mentioned numerous perceived errors with how the case was carried out and decided. One of those is that they believe the jury was improperly vetted and another is that they were not properly sequestered.
Bredehoft once told CBS that she thought social media may have heavily influenced the jury, which is not supposed to happen in high-profile cases. “It was like a Roman Coliseum,” she said. “I have to believe that the jury, even though they’re told not to go and look at anything… They had weekends, they have families, they have social media, and the ten-day period that we had. How could they not have been influenced?”
Amber Heard, Legal Team Say Depp Never Proved His Cause
Another point of concern raised by Heard’s legal team is that Depp’s arguments signaled something of a red herring. They believe that Depp was trying to litigate an old argument, and one that was already settled outside of court long ago.
A filing by Heard’s team states that Depp “proceeded solely on a defamation by implication theory, abandoning any claims that Ms. Heard’s statements were actually false.”
This point might have some merit, as defamation cases involving public figures require the element of actual malice. This means that Amber Heard’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed, the one that Depp was basing his entire claim on, must have been knowingly and provably false.
Depp also tried to base his entire damages on lost wages when Disney+ let him go from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. This was refuted by a Disney executive who served as a witness.
Additionally, the ex-couple have already hashed out many of these points in past courtrooms, agreeing with each other that no one lied intentionally. Their divorce filing included a dual-statement that read, “Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm.”
A Judge Has Already Said “No”
However, a judge recently denied Heard’s motion to throw out the verdict based on a mistrial. That motion was filed on July 1. It claimed discrepancies between the summoned jury member and whomever served on the trial were enough to overturn the verdict.
So, it looks like Amber Heard may have a chance but it’s probably not great. Either that, or she’s just willing to throw more money at the wall to see what sticks.
