Contents
A Virginia decide on Wednesday turned down an effort by actress Amber Read to either have a mistrial declared or set apart the $10 million US judgment awarded against her in favour of her ex-partner, Johnny Depp.
Depp gained a defamation match towards Heard very last month in a higher-profile civil trial. Listened to gained a smaller sized, $2 million judgment on a counterclaim she filed in opposition to Depp.
Previously this month, Read submitted a motion trying to find to have Depp’s verdict established apart, or have a mistrial declared. Her lawyers cited several things, like an apparent situation of mistaken identity in which one of the seven jurors who made the decision the circumstance was by no means summoned for jury duty.
In a prepared purchase, Choose Penney Azcarate turned down all of Heard’s claims and stated the juror difficulty specially was irrelevant and that Heard are not able to exhibit the juror was prejudiced.
Court bound by determination of jury, judge suggests
“The juror was vetted, sat for the overall jury, deliberated and arrived at a verdict. The only evidence ahead of this Court docket is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s recommendations, and orders. This Court docket is bound by the skilled determination of the jury,” Azcarate wrote.
Depp sued for $50 million US in Virginia’s Fairfax County, after Listened to wrote a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Article about domestic violence in which she referred to herself as “a community determine symbolizing domestic abuse.”
The write-up under no circumstances outlined Depp by name, but his legal professionals stated many passages in the article defamed him by implication by referring to really publicized abuse allegations she manufactured in 2016 as she submitted for divorce.
Heard then submitted a $100 million counterclaim, also for defamation. By the time the situation went to demo, her counterclaim had been whittled down to a couple of statements built by one of Depp’s attorneys, who referred to as Heard’s abuse allegations a hoax.
The jury awarded $15 million to Depp and $2 million to Read on her counterclaim. The $15 million judgment was decreased to $10.35 million due to the fact Virginia regulation caps punitive damages at $350,000.
Verdicts named ‘inconsistent and irreconcilable’
The decide did not spell out her rationale for rejecting Heard’s other statements in Wednesday’s get.
Amongst other factors, Read argued that the $10 million verdict is unsupported by the specifics, and looks to reveal that jurors failed to emphasis on the fallout from the 2018 op-ed — as they were being meant to do — and as a substitute just appeared broadly at the injury Depp’s status experienced as a final result of the alleged abuse.
Heard’s attorneys also argued argue that the verdicts for Depp on 1 hand and Heard on the other are fundamentally nonsensical.
“The jury’s duelling verdicts are inconsistent and irreconcilable,” her legal professionals, Elaine Bredehoft and Benjamin Rottenborn, wrote.
Juror served improperly, lawyers alleged
Heard’s attorneys also challenged the verdict on the foundation that a person of the 7 jurors who made the decision the circumstance was under no circumstances summoned for jury duty.
According to court papers, a 77-calendar year-old county resident received a jury summons. But the man’s son, who has the exact same name and lives at the exact same address, responded to the summons and served in his stead.
Heard’s attorneys argued that Virginia legislation is rigid about juror identities, and the case of mistaken identification is grounds for a mistrial.
They presented no proof that the 52-year-previous son, recognized in court papers only as Juror 15, purposefully or insidiously sought to replace his father, but they argue that likelihood need to not be discounted.
“The Court docket cannot think, as Mr. Depp asks it to, that Juror 15’s apparently incorrect assistance was an harmless blunder. It could have been an intentional endeavor to serve on the jury of a significant-profile case,” Heard’s attorneys wrote.
Heard continue to has the skill to attraction the verdict to the Virginia Courtroom of Appeals.
