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Johnny Depp has reportedly filed an appeal to overturn the $2 million verdict awarded to his ex-wife Amber Heard during their defamation trial. The move comes after Heard filed her own appeal notice in the Virginia Court of Appeals against the official verdict of the case, which was ruled in Depp’s favor.
The news was officially confirmed by Depp’s representatives in a statement made to E! News:
“This was an overwhelmingly positive verdict for Mr. Depp. The verdict speaks for itself, and Mr. Depp believes that this is a time for both parties to move on with their lives and heal.”
The source continued:
“But if Ms. Heard is determined to pursue further litigation by appealing the verdict, Mr. Depp is filing a concurrent appeal to ensure that the full record and all relevant legal issues are considered by the Court of Appeal.”
Depp’s latest appeal soon became a major topic of debate on social media. While fans of Heard called out the former for filing an appeal despite winning the case, Depp's supporters noted that Heard “fired the first shots” by her own appeal to overturn the verdict:
On Thursday, a spokesperson for Heard told People that the actress and her legal team decided to move forward with the appeal as they believe “the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment.”
The spokesperson further added:
“While we realize today's filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”
In response to the statement, another spokesperson for Depp told Deadline that the actor and his team are confident in their case and believe the verdict will stand in place:
“The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in multiple instances. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand.”
Prior to the latest appeal from Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, Judge Penney Azcarate turned down the latter’s request for a mistrial.
Twitter reacts to Johnny Depp’s appeal against Amber Heard
The highly-publicized Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial has garnered immense attention on social media ever since it began at the Fairfax County court in April 2022. Netizens have long been involved in the legal battle, spending hours defending their respective parties of choice.
As Depp and Heard recently filed for their individual appeals against the official verdict, several social media users took to Twitter to react to the latest development:
As reactions continue to pour in online, it remains to be seen if the court will stand by the official decision of the jury or if the verdict will be overturned in either Johnny Depp or Amber Heard’s favor.
Why was Amber Heard awarded $2 million in Johnny Depp defamation trial?
On June 1, a seven-body jury in Virginia’s Fairfax Court declared Johnny Depp the winner of his longstanding trial against Amber Heard. The jury ruled that Heard defamed Depp with her 2018 Washington Post op-ed, where she referred to herself as a “domestic abuse survivor.”
The Aquaman star was then ordered to pay $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages to Depp. However, the punitive charges were later reduced to $350,000, the maximum amount allowed as per Virginia’s law.
Meanwhile, the court also awarded $2 million to Heard as she won one of her claims about Depp’s former attorney Adam Waldman defaming her by telling the press that the actress created “abuse hoax” against her ex-husband.
Depp originally sued Heard for $50 million, while the latter filed a $100 million countersuit against the Pirates of the Caribbean actor. Following the verdict, Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft told the Today show that the actress would not be able to pay $8.35 million to Depp due to her financial status.
However, Heard’s appeal against the official defamation verdict would now require her to post a bond of the full amount she owes Depp in damages.
