NEWSAmber Heard Seeking New Defamation Trial Against Ex-Husband Johnny Depp, Claims Case Was Stacked Against Her
Dec. 4 2022, Published 7:39 p.m. ET
Amber Heard is seeking a new defamation trial against her ex-husband Johnny Depp — six months after their trial wrapped up.
The actress, 36, claims she lost the case since it was stacked against her from the beginning.
“The trial court improperly prevented the jury from considering several separate instances in which Heard reported Depp’s abuse to a medical professional,” Heard’s lawyers wrote in paperwork, which was filed in Fairfax County, Va. “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."
The Aquaman star previously filed her appeal, arguing that the therapy notes in which she claimed she was abused was one of the reasons she did not come out on top. (Virginia Judge Penney Azacarate ruled out the papers as hearsay.)
In the paperwork, Heard's lawyers argued the trial should have taken place in California, where they once lived together.
The southern state was an “entirely inconvenient forum with no connection to Depp or any meaningful connection to his claims,” the filing states. “That holding, if allowed to stand, undoubtedly will have a chilling effect on other women who wish to speak about abuse involving powerful men.”
The case “should never have gone to trial because another court had already concluded that Depp abused Heard on multiple occasions,” the paperwork reads, referring to when The Sun won after Depp sued them for calling him a wife-beater.
“The trial court should have given preclusive effect to that 129-page decision, which followed a three-week trial at which Depp, Heard, and 24 other witnesses testified,” the filing reads.
Meanwhile, the Pirates of the Caribbean star filed his own appeal in the case.
“The jury’s emphatic favorable verdict on all three defamatory statements alleged in his complaint fully vindicated Mr. Depp and restored his reputation,” the filing said.
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As OK! previously reported, Depp sued Heard in March 2019 after she claimed she was a victim of abuse in a Washington Post op-ed. However, the mom-of-one never spoke about Depp, which resulted in her countersuing him.
Depp, 59, was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
For her part, Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages.
"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 said after the trial wrapped. "I'm sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly."
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Deadline reported on Heard's new paperwork.
