Johnny Depp Wins Court Case Against Amber Heard, Awarded US$15 Million

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, who will win the contentious legal battle? The verdict is finally out and puts to rest the long publicized legal battle which gripped various social media channels.

The jury has sided with Johny Depp and awarded the Pirates of the Caribbean actor US$10 million in compensatory damages and US$5 million in punitive damages. However, state law caps punitive damages to US$350,000 so Depp would be awarded, more accurately, US$10.35 million.

The jury found Heard had defamed Depp at three separate points in her Washington Post op-ed:

• The headline: “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”
• “Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out”
• “I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.”

At the same time, Heard was also found to have been defamed by Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman. In a 2020 Daily Mail op-ed, Waldman had written, “Quite simply, this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops, but the first attempt did not do the trick. The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to her face or property. So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and a publicist, and then placed a second call to 911.”

The jury awarded Heard US$2 million in compensatory damages but no punitive damages.

All in all, this puts to rest a case that has gripped many corners of social media for the past few weeks. It’ll be interesting to see if either actor walks away and be able to rebuild their respective careers.

While Johnny Depp has been mostly out of the Hollywood movie circuit for some time now, all eyes point to Aquaman as we will see if Heard still is able to hold on to her role as Meera post verdict.

Gerald

Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!