Almost immediately following the verdict in the dueling defamation lawsuits between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, Heard’s legal team announced plans to appeal the verdict. Everyone is probably preparing for the new social media firestorm now that the notice of appeal has been filed.
Johnny Depp received $15 million in damages from Amber Heard. This was due to the defamatory comments she made in a Washington Post article. The damage award was lowered to a little over $10 million in order to comply with Virginia state law, but Heard’s side isn’t ready to pay that. VarietyThe notice to appeal was filed. Amber Heard’s spokesperson stated that the court made errors in the first instance and that it was necessary to appeal the verdict. “Twitter bonfires”As a result, that will happen. It reads:
We believe that the court committed errors which prevented us from obtaining a fair and just verdict in accordance with the First Amendment. We appeal the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.
There will be. “Twitter bonfires”This appeal was granted. It is safe to assume that this appeal will be different from the first trial. Both sides had their supporters and their very vocal detractors.
Amber Heard’s defamation trial included social media attacks as a component. AquamanStar believed that Depp had employed an army of bots in order to discredit her on Twitter. Recent reports showed that the majority of those attacking Heard were actually human.
Heard’s legal counsel had tried previously to have the verdict annulled completely. They argued that one of the jurors was incompetent and that the verdict should therefore be nullified. The judge has ruled on this issue and found no fraud, so the request for the killing of the verdict was denied. Heard’s group was likely to wait for a decision before moving forward with the appeal.
It could take some time for this appeal to be heard, considering how long it took for the trial to reach a jury. There are many things that could occur once this happens. The verdict will be upheld if the appellate court doesn’t find Heard’s side claims to be true. Even if the appellate court finds errors, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will see another trial. The appeals court can modify or overturn the judgment. Heard could be required to pay less or nothing.