Jury Awards Amber Heard $2Million Despite Losing Case Against Depp

Amber Heard was awarded $2 million in damages in her countersuit against ex-husband Johnny Depp. 

The pair has been involved in a six-week long trial, with Depp suing his former partner for $50 million over an article she wrote in The Washington Post in 2018 and Heard countersuing him for $100 million. 

Today, 1 June, the jurors found in favour of Depp and awarded him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

In the countersuit, the jury cleared Depp of two of the three defamation claims Heard had made, but found he had defamed Heard on one occasion through his lawyer. 

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The jury found she was defamed in statements made by Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman to the Daily Mail. 

Waldman told the news outlet that Heard had committed a ‘hoax’ when she called police to their apartment in May 2016. 

She was awarded $2m in compensatory damages and nothing in punitive damages.

Heard was in court today, while Depp is currently in the UK and didn’t fly back over to the US for the verdict.

Following the verdict, Amber Heard has released a statement in which she said: “The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I'm heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband.

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“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.

“I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK.

“I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American – to speak freely and openly.”