Depp-Heard Trial: ‘Pirates’ Star Awarded 10.35 Million in Damages
A Virginia jury ruled on Wednesday that starlet Amber Heard defamed her ex-husband Johnny Depp in 2018 with the publication of her op-ed in the Washington Post.
Although the seven-member jury found that Depp is entitled to punitive damages of $5 million, Virginia state law limits punitive damages to $350,000. The actual amount to be awarded Depp is $10.35 million.
The seven-person jury deliberated for a total of about 13 hours over three days.
Heard initially filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016, and accused him of domestic violence days later when she requested a temporary restraining order.
The star did not pen her WaPo piece — in her role as “ambassador on women’s rights at the American Civil Liberties Union” — until December 2018, more than two-and-a-half years later.
Depp walks away with a far greater victory in the rejection of Heard's allegations. Another loser in this case is the ACLU, which helped write the defamatory column. This will magnify criticism of the role of the ACLU.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 1, 2022
…When I teach defamation, we often discuss how much of these cases turn on credibility judgments. Here the jury clearly saw little credibility in Heard and an abundance of culpability…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 1, 2022