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A judge on Wednesday denied Amber Heard’s request to have the high-profile defamation lawsuit involving her and her ex-husband Johnny Depp dismissed as a mistrial. I heard he lost to Depp last month.
“There is no evidence of fraud or abuse,” Judge Penny Azcarate said in the court order.
Representatives for Heard did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over a 2018 post in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic violence (without mentioning Depp by name). Heard countersued for $100 million after Depp’s former lawyer, Adam Waldman, called her claims a hoax.
After six intense weeks of testimony in Fairfax County District Court — the trial was held in Virginia because The Post’s printing presses and servers are located there — a seven-judge jury on June 1 found that Heard had in fact defamed Depp with the op. – row He was awarded $15 million, an amount reduced to $10.35 million because Virginia law limits punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2 million after a jury found that Waldman had defamed Heard, one of three points made in her counterclaim.
After the Depp-Heard verdict: Confusion, elation and — for a few — disappointment
Earlier this month, Heard’s attorneys filed a motion for a mistrial due to multiple factors, including their contention that one of the seven jurors was not actually the person summoned to the jury in April. The lawyers argued that the juror list included someone who “would have been 77 years old at the time,” but that the juror who sat was a 52-year-old with the same name who lived at the same residence.
“As the Court no doubt agrees,” the attorneys wrote, “it is deeply troubling for a person who is nonetheless not called for a jury to appear as a juror and serve as a juror, especially in a case like this.”
In Wednesday’s court order, Azkarate denied several of Heard’s post-trial motions for “reasons set forth in the record,” but provided a detailed explanation of why juror service did not constitute error. The subpoena did not include a date of birth, according to Azcarate, and the juror wrote their date of birth on a questionnaire that “meets the statutory requirements for service.” The judge noted that both sides questioned the jury and declared it acceptable: “Therefore, due process is guaranteed and assured,” she wrote.
Azkarate also said Heard’s team received the jury list “five days before the trial began” and had numerous opportunities to object during the weeks-long proceeding.
“The juror was examined, sat for the entire jury, deliberated and reached a verdict,” Azkarate wrote. “The only evidence before this court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, instructions and orders of the court. The court is bound by the competent decision of the jury.’
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