5 Likely Results of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Trial Verdict
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have filed a defamation suit against one other. Depp claims that when Heard charged him with domestic abuse, she ruined his career. She is prosecuting him for falsely accusing her of being a liar.
Depp is suing his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for $50 million over an op-ed she published for the Washington Post in 2018 on her ordeal as a home assault victim. Even though Heard never named Depp by name, his lawyers claim that allusions to their client (as well as Heard’s past public abuse allegations) are obvious and that the piece harmed Depp’s name and life.
Amber Heard has filed a countersuit for $100 million, claiming that Depp and his legal team libeled her by dismissing her claims as a fake.
In 2018, Heard wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in which she alluded to domestic abuse charges she made against Depp during their divorce two years before.
Johnny Depp
She didn’t mention Depp or reaffirm any of the accusations. She did, however, connect her experience to the #MeToo movement.
The trial has turned into a digital media sensation. The Law & Crime Livestream had 587,285 viewers at one time during Heard’s testimony on May 4. The video coverage has aided amateur forensics by allowing excerpts of Heard and Depp’s depositions to be remixed as TikToks and Instagram Reels.
However, First Amendment experts are uninterested in the case. According to some experts, it is unlikely to set any precedents or constitute a watershed historical moment in defamation law.
Defamation by Implication
In the 1840s, novelist James Fenimore Cooper sued a series of newspaper editors for defamation by implication, tracing a downward trajectory from literary superstar to litigious crank. One said he’d have to take his case to a court of law.
Depp’s claim was allowed to proceed based on the concept of defamation by implication, which states that even impartial and accurate remarks can make a defamatory inference. Heard’s statement that she “felt the full force of our culture’s anger for women who speak up” was interpreted as implying that Depp had assaulted her, even though she did not say so.
An Appeal to the Appellate Court is Not a Doubt
Amber Heard
There is the chance of an appeal, as there is in any civil case, and pundit David Banks believes there is a strong likelihood. “I believe there will be an appeal because there is so much at stake, including the reputations and careers of two brilliant actors,” he said.
“This is harmful to their reputation and marketability,” he remarked, referring to the Pirates of the Caribbean actor in particular. So I’d be astonished if the jury rules the same way this time.
After six weeks of witness statements and confessions of personal information about their relationship, the Depp Vs Heard trial is coming to a close, and we’ve put together a list of possible results.
The trial has received extraordinary press coverage; there has never been a trial that has been so widely publicized that people have taken advantage of it by live-streaming their reactions while watching it, and now the deliberations stage has begun, so it is up to the jury to decide who will be victorious, with millions of dollars on the line, but more importantly, their prestige on the row.
Winning with no collateral damage
There’s a possibility lurking in the shadows: they may rule in favor of either of them, but refuse to pay monetary compensation for the trial.
What will happen if they are unable to reach a consensus?
The seven jurors must make a unanimous conclusion; if they are unable to do so, the case will be declared a mistrial, and both parties will have to agree to a new trial.
Johnny Depp Becomes Victorious.
Depp is cleared of being violent and is awarded a monetary award of up to $50 million, which is the sum for which Depp is suing his ex-wife.
Depp must show that Heard acted maliciously to win in court. “The testimony that she [originally] wanted his name included [in the op-ed] may show malice,” Taylor writes, “but the time before the release of her movie may suggest her genuine goal was to enrich herself.” In a pre-recorded deposition, Dr. Laurel Anderson, Heard and Depp’s former couples therapist, argued that the jury was likely to regard Heard and Depp’s relationship as mutually abusive, a contentious argument.
What if she is unable to pay?
“Then you get into all kinds of issues, including arguments over how it would be paid ovovertimeand people declaring bankruptcy. There aren’t many people with that type of cash on hand.” A specialist, David Banks, has some thoughts.
Amber Heard’s case upheld by the court.
If the jury finds in Amber Heard’s favor and it is shown that Johnny Depp is guilty of domestic abuse, she may be awarded up to $100 million in damages, which is the same sum she is seeking from.