Johnny Depp won a multimillion dollar prize from a Virginia jury last month – so why would he file an appeal? Amber Heard was the first to file one, his lawyer explained Thursday.
“If [Heard] insists on litigating this matter, we have to protect our client’s interests,” Camille Vasquez SubmittedCBS Thursday morning. Vasquez was seated for the first time since her trial became a worldwide internet sensation.
In June, the jury found Depp and Heard guilty of separate cases of defamation. Depp was awarded $15 million. State law reduced it to $10.4 million. Heard received a $2 million judgment. It’s the latter decision – based on comments Depp’s former lawyer made to British tabloids – that he has now chosen to appeal.
But he wouldn’t have bothered, Vasquez said, if she didn’t do it first. Depp’s attorney also noted that Heard’s move to appeal was “expected,”It is important to note that “she’s indicated since the day she lost the trial that she was going to appeal.”
Heard filed a motion earlier this month to either set aside the verdict or declare a mistrial based on a juror’s mistaken identity, a motion that was subsequently shot down by a Virginia judge. Her wider appeal of the jury’s verdict is still pending – and now Depp’s is, too.
“It’s pretty standard legal procedure,” Vasquez explained, “we just are hopeful that the court will uphold the verdict, which we think was the right verdict, and allow both parties to move on.”
You can watch the whole clip of Vasquez here.