US trial

Fairfax County Courthouse

**US trial** refers to a defamation trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, in April 2022. It was initiated by Johnny Depp, who sued Amber Heard over an op-ed she wrote that was published in *The Washington Post*. Heard filed a counterclaim against Depp, relating to statements Depp's attorney Adam Waldman provided to the *Daily Mail.*

## Background

### Depp and Heard's relationship

*Main article: Depp and Heard's relationship*
Depp and Heard entered a romantic relationship around late 2011 or early 2012 and married in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce in May 2016 and obtained a temporary restraining order against Depp, testifying during their divorce litigation that Depp had been "verbally and physically abusive" throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The couple finalized their divorce in January 2017, with Heard receiving a $7 million settlement that she pledged to donate to charity.

### UK trial

*Main article: UK trial*
Depp filed a defamation lawsuit in June 2018 against the publisher of The Sun and its executive director Dan Wootton for describing him as a "wife beater" in an article. That trial took place in July 2020 at the High Court in London, with Heard testifying as a witness on behalf of the defense. In November 2020, the High Court rejected Depp's claims of libel, concluding that "the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms Heard by Mr Depp have been proved to the civil standard".

## Subject

### Heard's op-ed

*Main article: Heard's op-ed*
In December 2018, Heard published an op-ed in *The Washington Post* about the consequences she faced after speaking up about abuse. The op-ed did not name any person. Matters from Depp's claim that were pursued through the trial were those that related to three statements in the op-ed:

1. First, the headline of the article was titled: "Amber Heard: I spoke up against sexual violence—and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change."
2. Second, in the article, Heard stated: "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."
3. Third, in the article, Heard stated: "I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse."

### Waldman's statements

*Main article: Waldman's statements*
Matters from Heard's counterclaim that were pursued through the trial were those that related to three statements made by Depp through his attorney Waldman that were published by the *Daily Mail* in April and June 2020:

1. First, Waldman stated that "Amber Heard and her friends in the media used fake sexual violence allegations as both sword and shield, depending on their needs. They have selected some of her sexual violence hoax 'facts' as the sword, inflicting them on the public and Mr. Depp".
2. Second, Waldman stated regarding the Phone incident in Depp and Heard's home: "Quite simply this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops but the first attempt didn't do the trick. The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to 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 publicist, and then placed a second call to 911."
3. Third, Waldman stated: "We have reached the beginning of the end of Ms. Heard's abuse hoax against Johnny Depp."

## Trial

In February 2019, Depp sued Heard over her op-ed, blaming it both for damaging his reputation and career and for causing him to sustain extensive financial losses. In August 2020, Heard countersued Depp including the allegation that he had coordinated "a harassment campaign via Twitter and [*by*] orchestrating online petitions in an effort to get her fired from *Aquaman* and L'Oréal."

The trial was held at the Fairfax County Circuit Court with this location chosen according to the declared reason for housing *The Washington Post*'s printing press and online server. However, experts have widely speculated that Virginia was chosen due to weak Anti-SLAPP laws allowing success in defamation cases to be more achievable.

### Pre-trial developments

In October 2020, the judge in the case disqualified Waldman from representing Depp after he leaked confidential information covered by a protective order to the media.

In November 2020, Following the verdict in Depp's lawsuit against *The Sun*, Heard's lawyers filed to have the defamation suit dismissed. However, the judge ruled against it for three reasons: Heard had been a witness, not a defendant in the UK case; the facts alleged were different (Heard's allegedly defamatory statements were made after the UK case commenced); and the parties had not been subject to the same discovery procedures as in the US.

In August 2021, a New York judge ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had to disclose documents related to Heard's donation pledge to the organization. The ACLU would later sue Depp for $86,000 as their charge for producing the documents.

### Jury selection

The trial began with jury selection on April 11, 2022. The panel of seven jurors and four alternates were picked by late afternoon in the Fairfax court.

### Judy deliberations

After the closing arguments, jury instructions were agreed upon. The judge instructed that the jury must find all of the following to determine that Heard was liable for defamation for each statement in question:

* Heard made or published the statement;
* the statement was about Depp;
* the statement is false;
* the statement has a defamatory implication about Depp;
* the defamatory implication was designed and intended by Heard;
* due to circumstances surrounding the publication of the statement, it conveyed a defamatory implication to someone who saw it other than Depp; and,
* as proven by clear and convincing evidence, that Heard made the statement with actual malice (i.e., with knowledge that her allegations were false, or so recklessly as to amount to a willful disregard for the truth).

For Heard's countersuit, the jury must find similarly regarding the statements made by Depp through Waldman.

Jury deliberations began on May 27 at around 3:00 p.m. They closed deliberations for the day around 5:00 p.m., resuming on May 31, after Memorial Day weekend. Deliberations concluded on June 1. The verdict was set to be announced at 3:00 p.m., but there were delays due to the jurors not filling out the damages section on the verdict.

### Verdict

The jury found that, for all three statements from Heard's op-ed, Depp had proven all the elements of defamation, that they were false, defaming Depp with actual malice. The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages from Heard. The punitive damages, however, were reduced by the judge to $350,000 due to a limit imposed by Virginia state law.

In regard to Heard's counterclaim, the jury found that for the second of the three of Waldman statements Heard had proven all the elements of defamation, that this statement was false, defaming Heard with actual malice. For the other two contested statements, the jurors concluded that Heard had not proven all the elements of defamation. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages from Depp but with no punitive damages.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 CL-2019-2911 John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard. *Fairfax County Circuit Court* (March 1, 2019). Archived from the original on April 28, 2022.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 CL-2019-2911 John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard - Defendant's Counterclaims. *Fairfax County Circuit Court* 12 (August 10, 2020).
3. ↑ Brandon H. Elledge (June 7, 2022). Virginia's Not For Lovers: Why Virginia May See More Defamation Claims After Depp v. Heard. Holland & Knight.
4. ↑ Joan Hennessy (October 23, 2020). Lawyer for Johnny Depp Kicked Off Case After Press Leaks. Courthouse News Service.
5. ↑ Eriq Gardner (August 17, 2021). Johnny Depp Allowed Libel Suit Against Amber Heard Despite U.K. Ruling. The Hollywood Reporter.
6. ↑ Charles Trepany (July 30, 2021). Judge sides with Johnny Depp: ACLU must reveal if Amber Heard donated $7M divorce settlement. USA Today.
7. ↑ Emma Nolan (June 1, 2022). Why the ACLU Is Asking Johnny Depp for $86,000 Ahead of Verdict. Newsweek.
8. ↑ Elizabeth Rosner; Ben Kesslen (April 11, 2022). Depp v. Heard trial: Jury selected as fans rally outside court to support Johnny. New York Post.
9. ↑ CL-2019-2911 John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard - Jury Instructions. *Fairfax County Circuit Court* (May 27, 2022).
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Joan Hennesy (June 1, 2022). Jurors mostly side with Depp in defamation case against Heard. Courthouse News Service.