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Of us, we remorse to tell you that the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial is again within the information.
Sure, the case was determined manner again in June, however as it’s possible you’ll recall, the jury’s choice wasn’t as conclusive as some observers had hoped.
By any measure Depp “gained” the trial, being awarded $10.35 million in damages primarily based on the jury’s conclusion that Heard had defamed him and completed irreparable injury to his profession.
Why, then, is Johnny interesting the decision?
Nicely, the jury additionally determined that Heard ought to be awarded $2 million, having been defamed by Depp’s legal professional, Adam Waldman.
Regardless that Depp got here out on high by greater than $8 million, in an act whose pettiness is matched solely by its hubris, he’s now dragging Heard again to court docket on the idea that he shouldn’t be compelled to pay her a dime.
The jury’s choice was primarily based on feedback that Waldman made in an interview, during which he described the battle that allegedly ended Depp and Heard’s marriage.
Heard legal professionals claimed Depp was “vicariously liable” for these statements.
“So Amber and her associates spilled just a little wine and roughed the place up, bought their tales straight beneath the route of a lawyer and publicist, after which positioned a second name to 911,” Waldman mentioned on the time.
In response to court docket paperwork filed this week, Depp’s attorneys consider that the court docket “ought to reverse the judgment on Ms. Heard’s counterclaim,” though they’re in favor of each different facet of the decision.
“The jury’s emphatic favorable verdict on all three defamatory statements alleged in his criticism absolutely vindicated Mr. Depp and restored his fame,” reads the submitting.
“Nonetheless, the trial court docket was confronted with quite a few novel and complicated authorized and factual points, and though the trial court docket determined the overwhelming majority of these points sensibly and appropriately, a couple of rulings had been faulty.”
Depp’s attorneys additionally argue that Waldman was retained as an unbiased contractor, and thus had no proper to talk on Depp’s behalf.
They additional allege that there’s no proof of “precise malice” in his assertion, which is among the situations for libel.
“No proof of Mr. Waldman’s precise malice was offered at trial, so the judgment in opposition to Mr. Depp can’t be sustained,” Depp’s legal professionals write.
They go on to argue that Waldman’s phrases had been a “non-actionable assertion of opinion inadequate to assist a declare of defamation.”
That’s plenty of legalese to say “Depp desires to go nuclear, and he gained’t sleep so long as Heard has a dime to her title.”
In fact, Heard can be interesting the decision, so even when Depp’s attraction is rejected, there stays a really sturdy likelihood that these two will wind up again in court docket.
Already, Heard’s first request for a brand new trial was thrown out by the decide.
The actress alleged that one of many jurors within the unique trial had served on a fraudulent foundation, having answered a summons that was supposed for another person.
The decide wasn’t shopping for it, and Amber’s attorneys went again to the drafting board.
So yeah — you might need thought you’d heard sufficient about one of many messiest marriages in Hollywood historical past over the summer season.
But it surely appears nearly sure {that a} sequel to the epic battle between Depp and Heard is coming quickly to a courtroom close to you.
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