Johnny Depp files appeal against $2m Amber Heard verdict, calls judgment ‘erroneous’

The Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard saga continues — the Pirates of the Caribbean actor filed an appeal against the $2 million verdict ruled in his ex-wife’s favour.

After a sensational trial that lasted months and caught the world’s attention, the jury ruled majorly in favour of Depp. In June, it said Heard had defamed Depp and awarded him $15 million in damages. However, Heard won one of her three counterclaims against her ex-husband, with the jury finding that Depp — via his lawyer Adam Waldman — defamed her by branding her allegations about a 2016 incident “an ambush, a hoax”.

The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory actor doesn’t believe he should be held accountable for that. “The judgment in Ms Heard’s favour on that lone statement is erroneous,” stated an appellate brief filed by him on Wednesday in Virginia’s Court of Appeals, according to The Independent.

Depp’s lawyers argue that he cannot be held legally liable for Waldman’s statements just because he hired him. “As a matter of law, Mr Waldman is an independent contractor, whose allegedly tortious conduct is not automatically attributable to Mr Depp,” read the brief.

His attorneys added that Depp’s reputation had “been vindicated” by the jury. “The jury’s emphatic favourable verdict on all three defamatory statements alleged in his complaint fully vindicated Mr Depp and restored his reputation,” stated the filing. “… However, the trial court was confronted with a number of novel and complex legal and factual issues, and although the trial court decided the vast majority of those issues sensibly and correctly, a few rulings were erroneous.”

Depp also said Heard had not presented any evidence at the trial that proved his personal and direct involvement in the three statements made by Waldman and that the lawyer has not seen the couple interact before he was retained.

Last month, Heard also revealed that she plans on appealing the verdict that found her guilty of defaming her ex-husband.