NEWSAmber Heard Faces Financial Ruin As It's Revealed Filing For Bankruptcy WILL NOT Exempt Her From Paying Ex Johnny Depp
Amber Heard has no way to escape paying the $15 million she now owes ex-husband Johnny Depp.
After a Virginia jury ruled on Wednesday, June 1, that the Aquaman actress, 36, had defamed her former husband, 58, by penning the 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post where she alleged she was a victim of abuse, Heard was ordered by a judge to pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The group of seven jurors ruled Heard had acted with malice when penning the essay.
However, it was not all bad news for the blonde star: Heard won $2 million in her countersuit against her ex for his lawyer's statements to the media. But she will still not be able to get out of the payment she has been ordered to make to Depp even if she files for bankruptcy.
Los Angeles-based attorney Ronald Richards told Radar, “The award is not dischargeable. Punitive damages are never dischargeable or deductible.”
“Intentional torts like defamation are not dischargeable typically," the legal mind noted of the ruling. Although the Zombieland actress has yet to say what her next legal steps may be, she could appeal the judgment and attempt to either lower the amount awarded or overturn the entire verdict.
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As OK! previously reported, following the verdict, Heard made a statement about the final ruling. "The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I'm heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex-husband," she stated in a message shared on social media.
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"I'm even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback," Heard continued. "It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously."
"I believe Johnny's attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore the evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK," she concluded. "I'm sad I lost this case. But I am saddened still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly."
