The defamatory essay that may cost Amber Heard $10M after Depp verdict
nypost.coma Virginia jury determined Wednesday afternoon. The seven-person jury decided to award the “Edward Scissorhands” star a total of $15 million in damages after deliberating for about 13 hours.The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
However, Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000. This means Depp will receive a maximum of $10.35 million after he pays an admittedly “shamed and humiliated” Heard the $2 million in compensatory defamation damages she was awarded.The jury declared Heard “acted with actual malice” when she penned her now-infamous op-ed, titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath.
That has to change.” Heard initially filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016, and accused him of domestic violence days later when she requested a temporary restraining order.
The star did not pen her WaPo piece — in her role as “ambassador on women’s rights at the American Civil Liberties Union” — until December 2018, more than two-and-a-half years later.In the op-ed, Heard, 36, claimed that she was a victim of abuse — but did not explicitly name Depp, 58, as a perpetrator.
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