Amber Heard appeals against Johnny Depp defamation verdict

4 July 2022, 07:15

Amber Heard's legal team have appealed the verdict of a her defamation case against Johnny Depp, asking judges to throw out the ruling or begin a new case.

Lawyers filed a 43-page motion on behalf of the actress, which questioned the suitability of the jurors and claims the ruling was not supported by evidence.

Attorney Elaine Bredehoft said Mr Depp’s claims "proceeded solely on a defamation by implication theory, abandoning any claims that Ms Heard's statements were actually false".

Last month a jury found a 2018 article that Ms Heard wrote for the Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse to be defamatory.

The motion issued on Friday also highlights that during the six-week trial, the Pirates of the Caribbean star's legal team submitted statements and evidence from 2016 despite the op-ed being published in 2018.

The motion calls a new trial, a new verdict, or a dismissal of Mr Depp’s complaint altogether.

Lawyers also question the credibility of the jury stating the 'duelling' verdicts were "inconsistent and irreconcilable".

Read more: Heard stands by 'every word' and admits Depp trial was 'Hollywood brats at their worst'

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They also argue that one juror had not been properly vetted the document stated that Juror 15 "was clearly born later than 1945".

Adding: "Publicly available information demonstrates that he appears to have been born in 1970.

''This discrepancy raises the question whether Juror 15 actually received a summons for jury duty and was properly vetted by the court to serve on the jury."

Mr Depp consistently denied during his own evidence the "outrageous, outlandish" claims of abuse.

The 59-year-old was awarded $10.35 million (£8.2m) in damages.

Ms Heard won on one count of her countersuit, successfully arguing that her ex-husband's press agent defamed her by claiming her allegations were "an abuse hoax" aimed at capitalising on the #MeToo movement.

The jury awarded her $2m (£1.5m) in damages.

Read more: Amber Heard blasts Johnny Depp's TikTok celebrating defamation trial verdict

The six-week trial also saw Heard challenged over why she had not yet donated her seven million dollar (£5.7 million) divorce settlement to charities as promised.

In an interview since losing her court battle against the Pirates of the Caribbean star, Ms Heard said she "absolutely" still loves her ex-husband.

The 36-year-old actress also said she fears she could be "silenced" from speaking out in future.

She told NBC Today's Savannah Guthrie she has "no bad feelings or ill will" towards Mr Depp following their high-profile court case, which came to a close just two weeks ago.

She insisted she did the best she could to make a "deeply broken relationship work" but realised she was not a "likeable victim".

Asked whether she still had love for Mr Depp, she replied: "Yes, absolutely. I love him.