There we have it. 6 weeks of testimony, 2.5ish days of deliberation and the verdict puts Depp out on top.
Heard did officially win one count but that’s not the entire story.
Heard was awarded 2 million in damages due to Depp’s attorney’s very specific statement of what went down after the cops were called a second time. I don’t remember hearing two 911 calls.
Here’s the BIG win in the Verdict
Depp won big. He won on all 3 of his counts. They did not believe Amber when she claimed sexual assault. They believed Amber acted in malice on all 3 counts (headline, body, and repost/publication). Jury awarded Depp $10mil in damages and $5mil in punitive damages (which are maxed at $350k in Virginia). Amber won $0 in punitive damages.
The jury made a statement with the punitive damages. You deserve what you may have lost but that’s it.
Biggest Question after the Verdict
The ACLU. For those who watched this trial you heard the ACLU confirmed they helped Amber write the article and timed the publication of the article to match the announcement of Amber as an Ambassador on Women’s Rights. Here’s the rub now.
Is the article retracted? We will have to wait and see. She definitely has some valid points but it’s also defamatory. The following quote is the opening paragraph. Honestly, it’s a beautiful paragraph and still very true.
I was exposed to abuse at a very young age. I knew certain things early on, without ever having to be told. I knew that men have the power — physically, socially and financially — and that a lot of institutions support that arrangement. I knew this long before I had the words to articulate it, and I bet you learned it young, too.
Amber Heard
Then we had other quotes that were completely false based on testimony:
Friends and advisers told me I would never again work as an actress — that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me. Questions arose as to whether I would be able to keep my role of Mera in the movies “Justice League” and “Aquaman.”
The ACLU didn’t vet any of this and just took Amber at her word, which was common for the time. It’s a societal thing we do in the US and largely in Europe as well because there is rarely any evidence of abuse that women face. You don’t always have mountains of evidence. You may have a few broken bones that get explained away in the ER as something far less severe. The slipping on broken glass alone would’ve sent anyone especially someone with an on-call/private nurse to remove that glass. I’ve had to see the doctor to remove a tiny shard of glass that got caught after I dropped a glass bowl. Missed 1 shard and found its way in my foot. Amber didn’t see a doctor but was photographed walking thru multiple airports. That arnica cream must be amazing stuff.
What does the ACLU do in response? Do they end their relationship with Amber? Do they put policies in place to prevent this? Do they quit helping people write opinion articles they can’t confirm?
If you have to run the article through a ‘SUPER LAWYER’ (his testimony was hilarious to me) and ACLU’s team in order to confirm a lower risk of defimation, they probably should have dropped the article in the first place.
Now the Finale
Now to figure out how they negotiate the winnings. Depp comes out on top by $8million, he doesn’t have to accept that. He can say give me a dollar. He could say ‘You have bigger problems, save your money’. He can claim her property. She can’t claim bankruptcy and this debt goes away. She also has at a minimum $6million in legal fees to pay. Maybe Elon is paying for some stuff.
She could also appeal.
It isn’t done and now we watch.
