Lawyers for Amber Heard made it official on Thursday and filed a motion in a Virginia court to appeal the June verdict in the Johnny Depp defamation case.
A jury had decided Heard “maliciously” defamed the Pirates of the Caribbean star in a Washington Post op-ed in which she claimed to have been a victim of domestic and sexual violence.
While she did not name her ex-husband Depp in the article, the jury decided that the implication was clear and awarded him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The latter amount was capped to $350,000 by Virginia law.
Heard, for her part, was awarded just $2 million in her $100 million countersuit and awarded no punitive damages for comments made about her by a former attorney of Depp.
After the appeal was filed, a spokesperson for Heard gave a statement to ABC News that read, “We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment. We are therefore appealing 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,” the statement concluded.
For Depp’s part, a rep for the actor told ABC News in a statement, “The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp in multiple instances. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand.”
Earlier this month, the judge in the case, Penny Azcarate, tossed an attempt by Heard’s lawyers to seek a mistrial in the case.
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