On Friday, June 24, the judge in Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s defamation trial made the jury’s decision official by giving Heard a written order to pay Depp $10.35 million for hurting his reputation by saying in an opinion piece that she had been a victim of domestic abuse.
During a short hearing in the Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Penney Azcarate wrote down a judgment order. She also told Depp to pay Heard $2 million, which is what the jury said Heard should get for her counterclaim that one of Depp’s lawyers lied about her.
The order was a formality after the jury announced its verdict on June 1. The jury mostly sided with Depp after a sensational trial in which the couple talked about the dirty details of their short marriage during a televised trial that was closely followed on social media.
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Depp sued Heard over an opinion piece she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she called herself “a public figure representing domestic violence.” The jury agreed with all three of Depp’s claims about specific things said in the 2018 piece.
The jury said Depp should get $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. However, the judge lowered the punitive damages award to $350,000 because the state has a limit on how much can be given in punitive damages.
Heard has said that she will try to change the decision.
During the hearing on Friday, the judge told Heard that if she wants to appeal, she must put up a bond for the full $10.35 million awards while the appeal is going on. The judge’s order says that interest of 6% per year will be added to both awards.
She would also have to pay $480,000 in interest on top of that.
The Post says that the judge wrote down Depp’s version of the verdict and turned down all of Heard’s suggestions for changes.
