Amber Heard Requests Retrial of Trial Sued by Ex-Husband Johnny Depp for Defamation

Last Updated on 12/06/2022 by てんしょく飯

Amber Heard has filed a request for a retrial after losing a lawsuit filed against her ex-husband Johnny Depp for defamation.

Amber Heard seeks a redo of her defamation trial.

Amber Heard, who lost a lawsuit filed by her ex-husband Johnny Depp for defamation in June this year, has filed a request for a retrial. Amber claims that the libel trial, which was legally decided in favor of Johnny, was set up against her.

In the trial, the jury found that Amber’s Washington Post op-ed, in which she made a roundabout accusation of violence by Johnny, was “false and defamatory,” and ordered Amber to pay Johnny a total of $15 million (about ¥1.95 billion) in damages. Amber, on the other hand, also won $2 million in damages in her countersuit against Johnny.

In a legal document dated November 23 local time, Amber’s lawyer wrote, “In the earlier trial, the jury was improperly prevented from considering the multiple instances in which Ms. Heard reported Mr. Depp’s abuse to medical professionals. （If [the verdict] is not thrown out, a trial in which reports of domestic violence (DV) to medical professionals are excluded will likely make it more difficult for other victims to substantiate allegations of abuse and deter them from coming forward,” and “The jury found that the three defamatory statements alleged in the complaint With respect to all of them, they returned favorable verdicts, fully vindicated Mr. Depp, and restored his reputation.”

In a 2020 lawsuit for defamation against the publisher of The Sun, a popular British newspaper that called Johnny a “wife-beater,” the jury found that The Sun’s report that Johnny had been violent toward Amber was “substantially contrary to fact. The legal document also stated that the case “should not have gone to trial on this matter as another court had concluded that Mr. Depp had abused Ms. Heard on numerous occasions.

Incidentally, Johnny’s side has already appealed against the partial acceptance of Amber’s claim. According to the New York Post, a multi-judge team will now make a ruling on both sides’ claims, after which each party will have another chance to appeal.