What’s next after the Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial

Amber Heard says she designs to appeal after Johnny Depp was awarded $10.4 million in his bombshell defamation scenario Wednesday — and industry experts told The Write-up this could put the actor’s payout in limbo.

A jury in Fairfax, Virginia Wednesday discovered Read liable for defaming Depp, 58, in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she explained herself as a victim of domestic abuse. The jury also uncovered Read was defamed by just one of Depp’s attorneys but only awarded her $2 million in damages.

“Under Virginia legislation you can halt selection steps pending an attraction – in essence freeze the assortment method to make it possible for the enchantment approach to unfold,” Virginia appellate attorney Steven Emmert told The Post. “But you have to put up a bond … in the volume of the judgment in addition one year’s curiosity.”

The 36-year-previous “Aquaman” actress’ attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, verified on two tv appearances Thursday early morning that Listened to would be attractive soon after the jury found her liable on all of Depp’s claims against her – while only getting him liable on one of her counterclaims.

“She has some great grounds for [appeal],” Bredehoft informed “Today” co-anchor Savanah Guthrie.

“She was demonized listed here,” Bredehoft mentioned. “A variety of items were authorized in this court docket that really should not have been permitted, and it caused the jury to be bewildered.”

Prior to Listened to can file an attractiveness, the get-togethers will have to go back again into court docket “soon” to put the jury’s verdict into a judgment, Virginia defamation law firm Lee Berlik advised The Publish.

Decide Penney Azcarate ordered the functions back again on June 24 to enter the judgment.

Right after the judgment, Depp and Listened to will have 30 days to enable the other aspect know no matter if they prepare to charm and then another 30 days to file the papers.

Most appeals are listened to within just a yr, Berlik mentioned.

“About a 12 months from these days we will likely have a choice from an appellate court docket,” Berlik claimed.

In the meantime, Heard would have to put up the appeal bond. She could get it by paying a bonding business to place up a bond on her behalf finding a bank to issue a letter declaring they will keep the resources pending attractiveness or securing a courtroom bond by paying the whole judgment for the court docket to maintain pending charm, Emmert, the Virginia attorney, explained.

Emmert claimed that if Read doesn’t put up the attraction bond then Depp could start off going just after her for the revenue as quickly as 22 times soon after the judgment.

Bredehoft instructed Guthrie her client can not afford to pay for the $10.4 million jury award. 

As for Heard’s enchantment, Berlik explained he could see numerous potential grounds that Heard’s aspect could fight the verdict on — “basically any substantial miscalculation that the trial judge built.”

That contains the point that the decide allowed the trial to go ahead in Virginia, the place the Washington Submit is based, alternatively than in California, in which Depp and Read live.

Her crew could also attractiveness the judge’s ruling allowing the trial to be televised reside gavel-to-gavel.

And, they could charm the ruling not to toss the circumstance out in the to start with place — as an alternative of allowing it go to trial — considering that the op-ed has “no unique allegations of abuse by Johnny Depp,” Berlik said.

Bredehoft tipped her hand as to at the very least some of the grounds she plans to attraction on, together with on the judge’s choice to not let some of Heard’s professional medical documents as evidence.

Depp’s staff was “able to suppress the medical information, which ended up very, really substantial because they showed a sample … heading all the way back to 2012 of Amber reporting this to her therapist, for case in point,” Bredehoft advised Guthrie.

“We experienced [a] significant sum of texts, together with from Mr. Depp’s assistants, stating, ‘When I informed him he kicked you, he cried. He is so sorry.’ That didn’t occur in.”

Heard’s group can also appeal the dollar sum of damages — but likely wouldn’t be productive on that front mainly because juries in defamation situations get “almost complete latitude to award the total they assume is suitable,” Berlik claimed.

He said that a dollars verdict would have to be really higher in get for them to have grounds to knock it down.

Considering that the jury arrived in effectively below Depp’s promises for $50 million in damages and Heard’s claims for $100 million in damages, “An award of $10 million is most very likely going to stand,” Berlik explained.

California former choose and existing legal protection lawyer Halim Dhanidina, said he thought the point that the jury “didn’t just rubber stamp numbers that ended up made available to them” it “shows that they truly gave some assumed to how considerably they even though each and every of these counts of defamation were definitely really worth in the authentic globe.

“By offering Johnny Depp the larger quantity as nicely as an quantity for punitive damages, I imagine they have been evidently saying that he is the greater target in this case,” Dhanidina reported.

Reps for Depp declined to comment when questioned if he would attraction.

Heard’s reps declined to remark.