Is Amber Heard in a position to pay Johnny Depp the $10.4 million judgment in his defamation case? Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, the actress’s attorney, expressed her thoughts.
A Legal Expert REACTS to the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard Verdict
Amber Heard may not be able to pay the multi-million dollar judgment against Johnny Depp.
A Virginia jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages on June 1 after finding Heard guilty of defaming the Pirates of the Caribbean star.
Punitive damages were eventually reduced by the court presiding over Depp’s defamation trial to the state’s legal limit of $350,000, bringing the actor’s total damages to $10.4 million. (Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages after countersuing her ex-husband.)
During a June 2 appearance on Today, Heard’s attorney, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, discussed the widely publicized legal struggle and expressed her opinion on whether the Aquaman actress will be able to pay the judgment. “Oh, no, certainly not,” she assured Savannah Guthrie, the host.
“A number of things were allowed in this court that should not have been allowed,” Bredehoft said of the trial, which lasted more than six weeks. She further alleged that during the judicial proceedings, Heard was “demonized” and that social media may have influenced the jury’s verdict.
“Every night they go home,” she explained. “They have families of their own.” Social media is used by families. Because of the judicial meeting, we had a ten-day break in the midst. It’s impossible that they weren’t influenced by it.
I was against cameras in the courtroom, and I went on record and advocated against it because of the sensitive nature of the situation, but it turned the courtroom into a zoo. “
Depp sued Heard for $50 million after she wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post in 2018 in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp’s lawyers argued in court documents that Heard’s op-ed was part of an “elaborate hoax,” despite the fact that Depp’s name was never mentioned in the essay.
Heard claimed that her ex-husband “unlawfully targeted” her in an “ongoing harassment and online smear campaign” in a $100 million countersuit against Depp.
Bredehoft says that Heard “absolutely” plans to appeal the jury’s decision to side with Depp.
“She has some excellent grounds,” Bredehoft said, adding that the trial had “a number of evidentiary issues.” “There was a lot of evidence that didn’t make it in.”
