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Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s legal battle continues as they are now both in the process of appealing the verdicts in their defamation case.
On Friday, Depp, 59, filed with the Virginia Court of Appeals a notice of appeal seeking to overturn the $2 million verdict in Heard’s countersuit, People reported. The move came a day after Heard filed a notice of appeal of the $10 million defamation verdict against her.
After their six-week trial, a Virginia jury sided more strongly with Depp and found on June 1 that Heard defamed the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star by publishing a 2018 Washington Post op-ed about surviving domestic abuse. However, the jurors sided with Heard on one of her counterclaims, finding that Depp defamed her via his lawyer Adam Waldman’s “hoax” comments in 2020.
An unnamed source close to Depp told People that it was an “overwhelmingly positive verdict” for the “Fantastic Beasts” star, who reportedly “believes that this is a time for both parties to move on with their lives and heal.”
However, the source added that “if Ms. Heard is determined to pursue further litigation by appealing the verdict, Mr. Depp is filing a concurrent appeal to ensure that the full record and all relevant legal issues are considered by the Court of Appeal.”
Heard’s rep did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
Heard filed a notice of appeal Thursday morning with the Circuit Court of Fairfax County.
“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment,” a spokesperson for Heard said in a statement following the filing. “We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”
A rep for Depp responded to Heard’s filing, saying in a statement obtained by Variety that the actor’s legal team is confident that the verdict will be upheld.
“The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in multiple instances. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand,” the rep said.
Prior to Heard’s Thursday filing, the actress called for a mistrial over an alleged juror mix-up. Her lawyers argued that the wrong juror showed up to the six-week trial and that Heard was not given the proper “due process.”
However, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Penney Azcarate, who presided over the former couple’s defamation trial, dismissed Heard’s mistrial request, citing a lack of evidence of fraud and no evidence that the mistake prejudiced her.
Photo: POOL via AFP / Steve Helber
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