Attorneys for actor Amber Heard have requested that the judgment in opposition to her within the dueling defamation case with ex-husband Johnny Depp be totally put aside.
Heard, who was discovered liable on three claims of defamation in June, mentioned in a 43-page memorandum that the jury’s verdict ought to tossed – and with it a greater than $10m award – on the grounds that it was unsupported by proof.
Represented by lawyer Elaine Bredehoft at trial, Heard argued – amongst different issues – that it was false for Depp to say that he misplaced his position in Pirates of the Caribbean due to statements made by Heard in a Washington Submit op-ed.
Depp “proceeded solely on a defamation by implication concept, abandoning any claims that Ms. Heard’s statements had been really false”, her lawyer argued in a movement filed on Friday.
Heard additionally claims that the jurors’ award in opposition to her was extreme, having been handed down after a cut up verdict that discovered she and Depp had defamed each other.
In an e mail to Courthouse Information, Depp’s lead lawyer, Ben Chew, dismissed the movement to dismiss as “what we anticipated, simply longer, no extra substantive”.
Heard additionally claims that one juror who served throughout the seven-week trial was not correctly vetted by courtroom officers as a result of their listed beginning yr was 1945.
The juror, recognized within the submitting as Juror 15, “was clearly born later than 1945. Publicly accessible data demonstrates that he seems to have been born in 1970,” the movement mentioned.
“This discrepancy raises the query whether or not Juror 15 really acquired a summons for jury responsibility and was correctly vetted by the courtroom to serve on the jury.”
The courtroom clerk’s workplace is obligated to confirm the identification of the jurors, however on this case, “it seems his identification couldn't have been verified”, the movement added.
Decide Penney Azcarate has indicated that she just isn't inclined to schedule extra hearings within the case. Within the final authorized encounter, on 24 June, Azcarate put the ultimate judgment within the courtroom document after Bredehoft argued for additional hearings.
Azcarate bluntly instructed Heard’s lawyer that if she needed to enchantment the decision from the seven-person jury, she must file motions with the courtroom.
Azcarate additionally knowledgeable Bredehoft that the Aquaman star should put up an $8.35m bond with an annual 6% curiosity earlier than any enchantment would transfer ahead. Representatives for Heard have mentioned she doesn't have the cash to pay Depp or meet the bond.
With the $10m judgment in opposition to Heard – and a $2m judgment in opposition to Depp on a single depend of defamation – now registered with the courtroom, there seems little alternative left for the events to succeed in an out-of-court settlement.
After the decision, Depp’s legal professionals hinted that the Pirates star could be keen to forgo his share of the award. However Heard has since repeated lots of her claims in opposition to him, together with throughout an interview on NBC, suggesting that the matter, at the least for Heard, is much from resolved.
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