- Johnny Depp filed a notice of appeal on Friday.
- His ex-wife Amber Heard won $2 million defamation case against him.
- Depp is counter-appealing to ensure that his side is included in the record.
Attempting to overturn the one count of defamation that his ex-wife Amber Heard won in their high-profile trial last month, Johnny Depp filed a notice of appeal on Friday, according to court documents.
The 59-year-old “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor is hoping the appeal will overturn the $2 million verdict Heard received from the jury over allegations that Depp’s attorney made untrue and disparaging remarks about her.
Depp’s new lawsuit comes just one day after his ex-wife appealed the $10.35 million judgement she received in relation to Depp’s claim that Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse in an op-ed article had defamed him.
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According to a source close to Depp, the actor believes the judgement was overwhelmingly in his favour and that it is now appropriate for him and Heard to go on with their lives and begin to mend.
However, the source claimed that because the 36-year-old actress added to the lawsuit with her appeal, Depp is counter-appealing in Fairfax, Virginia, court to make sure that his side is included in the record and that the appeals court takes into account all of the legal difficulties.
Depp first sought $50 million from Heard in his lawsuit. Although Heard did not specifically mention Depp by name in the Washington Post column, his attorneys said that it was an obvious allusion to her claims that he had assaulted her during their 2016 breakup.
Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, alleging that she was defamed when Adam Waldman, Depp’s attorney, publicly debunked her claims.
When Waldman claimed that she and her pals “spilled a little wine and roughed up the house, got their tales straight” when the police were called to the couple’s home for a domestic disturbance call in 2016, the jury determined that one of her assertions was defamatory.
Due to Virginia’s $350,000 cap on punitive damages, the jury decreased the $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages that were awarded to Depp.
On just one of Heard’s slander accusations, the jury returned a $2 million verdict.
Wild testimony during the six-week trial included assertions that Heard cut off Depp’s fingertip during a 2015 altercation and that Heard or one of her pals defecated on their bed.
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