Depp v. Heard

This article is about the defamation trial. For the documentary based on it, see Depp v. Heard (TV series).
Depp v. Heard
CourtFairfax County Circuit Court
Full case name John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard
StartedApril 11, 2022 (2022-04-11)
DecidedJune 1, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-06-01)
VerdictDepp's complaint:

Heard was found liable in all three matters of defamation raised. Depp was awarded $10 million (of the $50 million claim) in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages (reduced to $350,000 per state limit).

Heard's counterclaims:

Depp was found liable in one of three matters of defamation raised and Heard was awarded $2 million (of the $100 million claim) in compensatory damages and $0 in punitive damages.
Court membership
Judges sittingPenney S. Azcarate
(Bruce D. White ruled on pre-trial motions).[1]

John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard was a trial held in Fairfax County, Virginia, from April 11 to June 1, 2022, that ruled on allegations of defamation between formerly married American actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Depp, as plaintiff, filed a complaint of defamation against defendant Heard claiming $50 million in damages; Heard filed counterclaims against Depp claiming $100 million in damages.

Depp and Heard first met in 2009, and got married in February 2015.[2] In May 2016, at an early stage in their divorce proceedings, Heard claimed that Depp had abused her physically, which he denied.[3] In a separate libel trial in England, in which Depp sued News Group Newspapers Ltd over an article published in The Sun, the presiding judge ruled against Depp, stating, "[T]he great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved to the civil standard."[4] Several legal experts suggested that Depp had a smaller chance of winning in the US trial compared to the UK trial.[5][6]

In the Virginia trial, Depp's claims related to a December 2018 op-ed by Heard,[7] published in The Washington Post. Depp claimed Heard caused new damage to his reputation and career by stating that she had spoken up against "sexual violence" and "faced our culture's wrath"; that "two years ago, [she] became a public figure representing domestic abuse" and "felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out"; and that she "had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse". Heard's counterclaims included allegations that Adam Waldman, Depp's former lawyer, had defamed her in statements published in the Daily Mail in 2020. Throughout the trial, Depp's legal team sought to disprove Heard's domestic abuse allegations and to demonstrate that she had been the instigator, rather than the victim, of intimate partner violence. Heard's lawyers defended the op-ed, claiming it to be factual and protected by the First Amendment.

The jury ruled that Heard's op-ed references to "sexual violence" and "domestic abuse" were false and defamed Depp with actual malice and awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages from Heard,[8][9] although the court reduced the punitive damages to $350,000 due to a limit imposed by Virginia state law.[10] They also ruled that Depp had defamed Heard through Waldman, who had falsely alleged that Heard and her friends "roughed up" Depp's penthouse as part of an "ambush, a hoax".[8][11] They awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages and $0 in punitive damages from Depp.[8][9] Separately, the jury ruled that Waldman's other allegations of Heard's "sexual violence hoax" and "abuse hoax" against Depp had not been proven defamatory.[9]

After the trial ended, Heard put forth motions to set aside the verdict, but was unsuccessful. Then, both Depp and Heard appealed against the respective verdicts. In December 2022, both parties reached a settlement and dropped their appeals, with Depp's lawyers Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez stating that Depp would receive $1 million from Heard.[12]

The livestreamed trial attracted large numbers of viewers and considerable social media response. The majority of the social media response was sympathetic to Depp and critical of Heard.[13][14][15] The trial renewed debates around topics relating to domestic violence, the #MeToo movement, and women's rights,[16][17] although some commentators were more skeptical of the trial's long term implications.[18][19]

  1. ^ Maddaus, Gene (May 3, 2022). "Amber Heard Loses Bid to Dismiss Johnny Depp's Defamation Suit". Variety. Archived from the original on June 6, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Gbogbo, Mawunyo (May 26, 2022). "A timeline of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's relationship and key moments from court case". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  3. ^ Shah, Simmone. "What to Know About Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's Defamation Trial". Time. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  4. ^ "Factbox: Johnny Depp loses 'wife-beater' libel case: key parts of the judgment". Reuters. November 2, 2020. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Syal, Rajeev (June 2, 2022). "Why did the Depp-Heard libel outcomes differ in the US and UK?". the Guardian. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :72 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference heard_wapo_oped was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference CNverdict was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference APverdict was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference NPRreduced was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Depp-Heard trial: Jury sides mostly with Depp in defamation case". BBC News. June 2, 2022. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  12. ^ "Brown Rudnick Helps Johnny Depp Resolve Defamation Case". Brown Rudnick. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Degrading memes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference variety_tiktok was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ "Advocates fear Depp-Heard trial will have a chilling effect on women coming forward with abuse claims". PBS NewsHour. June 3, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  17. ^ "Why the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard verdict was a setback for women". NBC News. June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference abc-verdict-122 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference the-guardian-verdict-1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).