Amber Heard requests court to dismiss verdict favoring Johnny Depp, amid perjury investigation in Australia

A month after the verdict in the defamation lawsuit of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the actress' legal team appealed for the verdict on Friday, July 1. According to the filings obtained by Courthouse TV, Heard's legal team argued that the verdict had issues with legal reasoning and discrepancies in the jury selection process.

In the document, Heard's legal team further stated how the jury's verdict gave Depp excessive compensation over the defamation lawsuit. In the lawsuit last month, Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. However, the latter was capped at $350,000 due to Virginia's State laws. The jury had agreed with all three counts of Depp's claims.

Meanwhile, the jury agreed with only one count of Heard's claims from the countersuit and awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages. Thus, Depp was technically awarded $8.35 million in total.

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What is Amber Heard's legal team's counter-argument?

The main argument pointed out by Amber Heard's attorneys claims that the monetary amount awarded to Depp is not supported by evidence. They also stated that the verdict on the defamation lawsuit and the countersuit by the Aquaman star is not consistent and thus should be set aside. Furthermore, they are claiming that Depp had not proven that Heard had malicious intent with her op-ed.

In the document, the arguments also pointed out that the jury's decision on defamation in regards to the headline of the op-ed is "contrary to the law and unsupported by the facts." The document read:

"The jury's verdict was obviously influenced by Mr. Depp's pleas in the face of the Court's preclusion of Ms. Heard from introducing evidence that Mr. Depp had already, in fact, been adjudicated in the Court of his choosing to have committed not just one act of domestic abuse - all that was needed in this case for a defense verdict - but 12 acts of domestic violence, including sexual violence."

They further stated:

"The exclusion of the UK Judgment, coupled with Mr. Depp's continuous urging to the jury to go back six years and exonerate him and restore his reputation, resulted in an indefensible $10 million compensatory damage verdict and $5 million punitive damage verdict. The verdict is excessive as a matter of law in light of the evidence and law and should be set aside."

Amber Heard's legal team also argued how the court should investigate juror 15. They argued that the court had noted that the individual was born in 1945. However, according to alleged public information, the individual was born after 1945, i.e., in 1970.

They raised questions as to whether juror 15 was properly vetted by the courthouse before they were allowed to participate in the trial's jury duty.

On the basis of these arguments and more, the 36-year-old Aquaman star's attorneys have requested the court to set aside the verdict that favored the 60-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star.

Their requests further ask that the complaint by Depp be dismissed entirely or that a new trial be held. They also demanded that the court take appropriate actions as per the potential investigation findings regarding juror 15.

The request to dismiss the defamation trial verdict comes amid perjury investigations into Heard in Australia. In 2016, Amber Heard reportedly smuggled her dogs into Australia, a country that requires ten days of quarantine for foreign animals. In the courtroom, Heard claimed that Depp's assistant at the time, Kate James, was supposed to declare the import of those animals.

At the time, another assistant, James Murphy, had backed Heard's claims and, later in 2020, admitted to have lied for the actress. This caused the Australian court to reopen the investigation against Heard. Furthermore, the incident also sparked allegations of Amber Heard's perjury.