Amber Heard Appeals $10M Johnny Depp Defamation Verdict

Amber Heard’s long-running battle with her ex-husband Johnny Depp for public redemption may not end soon.

Heard has filed an appeal to the Virginia court, challenging the decision that Depp’s defamation case against her was successful.

The case centers around her Washington Post op-ed, in which she accused Depp of domestic abuse. Heard’s legal team argued that the court excluded some of her therapy notes, in which she reported being abused by Depp, which resulted in an unfair trial.

Depp’s legal team also filed an appeal, claiming that the singular count of defamation that Heard was convicted of was ‘erroneous.’

Depp, 56, received a $10.35 million verdict in June. Now, Heard’s attorneys claim in a 68-page statement dated late November that the court ‘improperly excluded the jury from considering many occasions in which Heard reported Depp’s abuse to a medical expert.’

‘If not reversed, the trial court’s exclusion of contemporaneous reports of domestic abuse to medical professionals will make it more difficult for other abuse victims to prove allegations of abuse, and likely deter them from coming forward,’ they continued.

‘That holding, if allowed to stand, undoubtedly will have a chilling effect on other women who wish to speak about abuse involving powerful men.’

‘This case also should never have gone to trial because another court had already concluded that Depp abused Heard on multiple occasions,’ wrote Heard’s lawyers, referring to the United Kingdom High Court of Justice’s ruling in a separate defamation suit brought by Depp that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor had abused his ex-wife.

Johnny Depp has filed a motion for his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard to move to California. The actor’s legal team argued that the trial should have been held in the state as the former couple lived there at the time of the alleged libel. Depp’s attorneys filed an appeal in the case, claiming that the only count of defamation he was convicted of was ‘erroneous’.

The jury ruled favor of Heard across all three charges, restoring Depp’s reputation. A panel of judges will review both requests.

Following their ruling, Depp or Heard could take the case to the state’s Supreme Court, depending on which legal team is not satisfied with the judgment.

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