Johnny Depp’s multi-million defamation suit against Amber Heard is over, but not really over if the Aquaman actress can pay a pricey bond.In a short and sometimes tense hearing this morning in Judge Penney Azcarate’s Fairfax, Virginia courtroom, a final judgment in the explicit and high-profile trial that ended on June 1 was presented and entered into the docket (read it here).
However, in a contentious back and forth with Azcarate, Heard’s main attorney Elaine Bredehoft sought to set a briefing schedule and more for a proposed appeal for her client in the civil case.The Old Dominion judge bluntly told Bredehoft that if she wanted to appeal the verdict from the seven-person jury the lawyer would have to file motions with the court.
Azcarate also informed Heard’s attorney that the Aquaman star will have to put up an $8.35 million bond with 6% interest per year for any appeal to formally move forward.At the start of this month, Depp was awarded $15 million in damages by the jury in his $50 million defamation case.
That sum awarded was almost immediately reduced to $10.35 million by Judge Azcarate in accordance with the state of Virginia’s punitive damages limitations.
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