On Tuesday, the much-discussed Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation lawsuit came to a close, with the jury awarding the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor $15 million and his ex-wife $2 million.
The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Depp against Heard in December 2018, in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in an op-ed in The Washington Post. Despite the fact that the op-ed did not specifically mention Depp, he claimed it was directed at him and had harmed his career. Depp should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, according to a jury in Fairfax County, Virginia. However, because the California law restricts punitive damages to $350,000, Depp received a total of $10.35 million.
While the Virginia jury found Amber Heard’s article defamatory to Johnny Depp, it also decided that Heard had been defamed by one of Depp’s lawyers, who claimed that she had staged a detailed hoax that involved roughing up the couple’s flat to make it appear worse for cops. She was granted $2 million by the jury.
Three remarks, in particular one given by a lawyer standing on Depp’s behalf, were scrutinized by the jury. Amber Heard and her friends, according to the lawyer, “spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight, and called police”.
