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Lawyers for Amber Heard have asked a judge to quash her sentence in a defamation case brought by ex-husband Johnny Depp.
They argued that the verdict was not supported by evidence and that one of the jurors may not have received proper scrutiny by the court.
In a post-trial motion filed Friday, Hurd’s attorneys said the jury’s June 1 award of $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages against Depp was “excessive” and “undefensible.” .
They asked the judge to quash the sentence and dismiss Depp’s lawsuit or order a new trial.
Immediately after the judgment, the judge reduced the damages to $350,000 under the state cap.
In December 2018, Depp sued Heard for defamation in Fairfax County Circuit Court over an article she published in the Washington Post describing herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Depp’s lawyers claimed he was defamed by the article, even though it never mentioned him by name.
The six-week televised trial turned into a spectacle, providing a window into their dysfunctional marriage.
Much of the testimony focused on Heard’s claims that she was physically and sexually abused by Depp.
Hurd described more than a dozen alleged attacks, including a fight in Australia, where Depp filmed a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.
Depp said he never hit Heard and she was the abuser.
Depp must prove that he never attacked Heard, that her article defames him, and that she wrote it out of malice.
In their post-trial motion, Hurd’s legal team argued that to find Hurd’s genuine malice, Depp would have to show that she did not believe she was being abused when Hurd’s article was published.
“Instead, the overwhelming evidence supports Ms. Hurd’s belief that she was a victim of abuse by Mr. Depp,” Hurd’s lawyers said in their motion.
Hurd’s attorneys also asked the judge to investigate “potentially improper jury service,” saying one of the jurors selected for the jury was listed as born in 1945 in documents provided to attorneys prior to the jury selection process, but was not named in the jury selection process. Public information listed as born in 1970.
“This discrepancy raises the question of whether Juror No. 15 actually received a jury subpoena and was properly reviewed by the court to serve on the jury,” Hurd’s attorneys said in their motion.
Depp’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The jury also awarded Heard a $2 million countersuit against Depp, finding that Heard had been defamed by one of Depp’s attorneys, alleging that she had created a detailed scam, including violently vandalizing the couple’s apartment to get police look worse.
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