Amber Heard loses defamation case against Johnny Depp
A seven-member jury found both Johnny Depp and Amber guilty of defamation and asked them to pay each other millions in damages. Heard has been instructed to pay Depp US$10 million after Depp won a defamation suit against the ex-wife and Aquaman actress. The jurors awarded $2 million to Heard, concluding that she was defamed by a lawyer for Depp, who accused him of an elaborate hoax surrounding the allegations of abuse.
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When asked on NBC’s Today show if Heard would be able to pay, his lawyer, Elaine Breedhoft, said: “Oh no, absolutely not.” He added that the “Aquaman” star wants to appeal the decision and that “there are some excellent grounds for that.”
Hurd also gave a statement after losing the hearing.
“He was shown here,” Breidhoft said of Hurd. “A lot of things were allowed in this court that shouldn’t have been allowed, and that left the jury confused. We weren’t allowed to tell them about the UK’s decision.”
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The attorney was referring to Depp’s defamation case in the United Kingdom. The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor sued popular British red-top tabloid, ‘The Sun’ for calling her a “wife beater”, but lost the case.
When asked whether social media had influenced the jury, Breedhoft replied: “Absolutely. The jurors [weren’t supposed to be looking at social media]but how can you not [be aware], He used to go home every night. They have families. Their families are dominated on social media. We got a 10-day break in between because of the judicial conference. There’s no way they couldn’t have been affected.”