Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Suit Against Amber Heard

Johnny Depp wins Defamation Suit Against Amber Heard After Controversial Trial

Heard will be required to pay costs and damages, though she did score one victory against Depp.

(L to R) Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in 2011's 'The Rum Diary.'

One of the showiest, and occasionally sleaziest showbusiness trials has come to an end. Amber Heard has been found guilty of defamation against ex-husband Johnny Depp following six weeks of arguments from both sides and 12 hours of jury deliberation.

The case stems from a 2018 Washington Post op-ed by Heard, written in support of the Violence Against Women Act. In the article, Heard wrote without referring to Depp by name that she had become “a public figure representing domestic abuse” two years prior and “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”

In 2016, Heard filed for divorce and she received a temporary restraining order against her soon-to-be ex-husband.

Depp filed the suit three years ago in Northern Virginia, since that is where the Post’s servers are situated. Running between April 11 to May 27, the actual jury trial saw both sides digging up salacious details and evidence of injuries, plus a wide variety of celebrities, agents, medical staff, friends, relatives, experts, and police officers testifying, with Depp arguing that his career has been hurt by Heard’s claims, as she countered with stories of his volatile nature and abusive actions.

Amber Heard in 2010's 'The Ward.'

Online, the battle lines formed, with big pushes of support for Depp and much abuse for Heard, who commented after taking the stand, “The harassment and the humiliation, the campaign against me that’s echoed every single day on social media, and now in front of cameras in the showroom – every single day I have to relive the trauma. Perhaps it’s easy to forget I’m a human being.”

After considering all the arguments, the jury returned with a verdict, but there was a further delay as certain lines of their statement were not filled in. Still, the jury answered “yes” on its jury form for each of the three statements, including two sentences and the headline, “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change.” In short, the jury found that not only “the statement was false” but was made with “actual malice.”

Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages, and added with punitive damages of $5 million for Heard, totaling a $15 million payment. In Virginia, however, punitive payments are capped at $350,000, so the total damages are $10.35 million.

Heard levied a simultaneous defamation case against Depp, in which she countersued him for $100 million after Depp’s lawyer called her claims a “hoax” in British tabloid the Daily Mail, among other statements. The jury found Depp not liable on two counts of defamation regarding statements made by Depp’s then lawyer Adam Waldman, and liable on one count – the latter being the statement, “Quite simply this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops but the first attempt didn’t do the trick. The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched, and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to face or property. So, Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911.” Heard won compensatory damages of $2 million.

While Heard was in court to hear the result, Depp chose to watch from the UK, where he had flown to play guitar onstage with Jeff Beck.