Amber Heard’s claim to dismiss the verdict on the legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp was rejected by a Virginia judge, who argued the claims made by the actress about a possible bias on the jury are irrelevant.
By the end of June, a jury in a court in Virginia concluded that Johnny Depp should be awarded 10 million by Amber Heard after she published an op-ed at The Washington Post which defamed him and therefore affected his career and public image. On the other side, the jury also granted an award of 2 million dollars in favor of Amber Heard because of damages made by Depp’s legal team.
After the verdict, the actress filed a motion for it to be set aside because her legal team found inconsistencies, one of them being a jury not fully identified and that could have had a biased impact on the trial.
“The court cannot assume, as Mr. Depp asks it to, that Juror 15′s apparently improper service was an innocent mistake. It could have been an intentional attempt to serve on the jury of a high-profile case,” Heard’s lawyers wrote.
However, Judge Penney Azacarate released a written order rejecting Heard’s plea, arguing that the juror issue was irrelevant and that she cannot provide evidence of how she was prejudiced.
“The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict. The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury,” Azcarate wrote.
Amber Heard still has the ability to appeal the verdict to the Virginia court of appeals.
Initially, Depp sued Heard for 50 million in a Fairfax County court arguing defamation after the op-ed she wrote and referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”, however, the piece never mentioned Depp by name.
After almost 7 weeks of a public trial, the jury ruled out that Johnny Depp should be awarded 15 million and $2 million to Heard on her counterclaim. Later, the sum was reduced to 10.35 million because Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000.
However, Amber Heard decided to appeal the decision while her legal team declared that the actress did not possess the money to pay Johnny Depp.
