IBNS/In a huge relief for Hollywood actor Johnny Depp, the jury verdict allowed him to get awarded $15 million in damages in connection with the high-profile legal battle against his former spouse Amber Heard.
As the celebrity trial ended Wednesday, the jury found both Amber Heard and Johnny Depp liable for defamation in their lawsuits against each other.
However, the jury awarded significantly more damages to Depp, which is a legal win for the actor.
Heard had sued Depp over domestic violence and obtained a restraining order against him in 2018. She was married to the Pirates of the Caribbean actor from 2015 to 2017.
Depp, 56, brought a defamation suit claiming $50 million in damages from Heard over a 2018 op-ed in a newspaper in which she describes herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.
He had said the legal suit was necessary because he needed to address “what I’ve been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years.”
In the final verdict, the jury found that Heard defamed Depp in three separate statements in The Washington Post write-up and that Depp defamed his former spouse or with one statement his attorney made.
The jury has awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million dollars in punitive damages while Heard will receive $2 million in compensatory damages and no money for punitive damages.
Heard, who is reportedly “heartbroken” over the verdict, plans to appeal against the same.
Depp, who was not present in the court at the time of the verdict, later released a statement that said, in part, “the jury gave me my life back.”
“From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome. Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me,” he said, adding: “I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.”
