Johnny Depp’s legal team has filed detailed paperwork appealing a jury’s decision to side with his ex-wife Amber Heard in one of her defamation claims against him. His November 2 appeal follows his win in the made-for-tabloids six-week trial, where he walked away with $10 million, five times what Heard was awarded. Depp and his team have decided to fight the one point of her counterclaim that the jury did side with. News of the appeal comes amid a bizarre announcement (and a reputational win) for Depp. Vulture confirmed reports that he will make an appearance in Rihanna’s fourth Savage X Fenty fashion show, out November 9.
Depp’s lawsuit was over Heard’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed; jurors also had to weigh whether a headline and two statements she wrote were defamatory. They found all three to be defamatory. Heard’s counterclaim alleged that ex–Depp lawyer Adam Waldman made defamatory comments about her in a handful of Daily Mail articles. The jury agreed that an April 27, 2020, statement from Waldman was defamatory. They gave Heard $2 million over this Waldman comment.
In the legal appeal filed Wednesday, Depp’s team argued that the jury verdict cleared him in a broad sense. He also said he’s not responsible for Waldman’s comments. “The jury’s emphatic favorable verdict on all three defamatory statements alleged in his Complaint fully vindicated Mr. Depp and restored his reputation. Indeed, Mr. Depp prevailed in the trial court on virtually all material issues, and the verdict of the jury and judgment of the trial court represent an intelligent and well reasoned decision on the merits after a full and fair trial and should be largely (though not entirely) affirmed,†Depp’s lawyers said.
The appeal claims that Waldman, who at the time was paid by Depp to represent him, “is an independent contractor, whose allegedly tortious conduct is not automatically attributable to Mr. Depp.†They also claimed Heard didn’t present evidence that Waldman made his April 27 statement with actual malice. A rep for Heard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.