Amber Heard and Johnny Depp: On, on and on – panorama

The last sentences written in this newspaper about the relationship between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp are these, in late June, about an interview given by Heard two weeks after the grotesque court hearing: “So this interview should by no means be the epilogue to be the case in which the defeated woman declares herself in order to shut down and move on with her life. It is feared that this is just another chapter in a toxic relationship.”

Now, at the beginning of December, one thing is certain: that’s the way it is, and the next chapter is currently being written. Heard this week officially appealed the Virginia jury’s verdicts that she was ordered to pay Depp a total of $10.35 million. She had already announced that, and it was expected because Depp had also appealed four weeks ago. There was another verdict: Depp had to pay Heard two million dollars. Both lawsuits were tried together in the spring, and they were then assessed together: a colossal legal victory for Depp.

Both sides appeal

Johnny Depp after the closing arguments in his libel trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia.

(Photo: pool/Reuters)

Of course it’s not that simple; this is exactly why both sides have now appealed, and why this is extremely interesting from a legal point of view, can be found in the 68-page statement by Heard’s new legal counsel. “The jury’s verdict against Heard on all of Depp’s counts is inconsistent with the verdict against Depp in Ms. Heard’s lawsuit,” it said. The arguments for this thesis had already been noted by experts immediately after the verdicts; the appeal now reads: “To rule in Depp’s case in one case, the jury must have concluded that he never abused Heard and that she knowingly lied by accusing him of abuse. But if she did in the other case finds that Heard told the truth about being a victim of abuse by Depp, Heard’s conviction cannot stand.”

Celebrities in court: US actress Amber Heard before the reading of the verdict at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse.

US actress Amber Heard before the reading of the verdict at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse.

(Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/dpa)

The process: a mud fight

Means: Both judgments, even if they were often evaluated as a net judgment – i.e.: Depp gets 8.35 million dollars from Heard – are mutually exclusive. This is also the reason why Depp appealed against this verdict four weeks ago. He knows that this could be the Achilles’ heel of this negotiation, in which he had given not only a legal verdict but also a social one. The trial was a mud fight, the formative scenes became memes on social media, and the public verdict was almost unanimous: Depp gave the lovable asshole; an often aggressive alcoholic, yet irresistible. The role of Heard: vengeful femme fatale; malicious, almost diabolical.

This is also addressed in the appeal. The fact that Depp had managed to start the process in Virginia – it was known to be about an online guest post by Heard in the Washington Post, the servers of the Internet portal are in Virginia – the process went as it went; in California, where they both live, it would have been different, also in the larger social context, the 68-page appeal says: “It is a deterrent message to other women who report abuse by powerful women, should the verdict remain as it is men want to talk to.”

New processes should be negotiated in California if possible

Allowing the public furor of round-the-clock live reporting, not allowing evidence like Heard’s tape recordings at the psychiatrist’s, and ignoring that judgment in Britain: Depp had the newspaper The Sun sued, who had called him a “wife-beater”. He lost, and so far all attempts at an appeal have failed. All of this, is now on appeal, must lead to the verdicts being declared null and void and new processes to be initiated – if possible in California.

According to Virginia law, a panel of judges will rule on both motions. Both Heard and Depp have the option of going all the way to the state Supreme Court, depending on the verdict. That means it could take months, even years, to reach a decision. The last sentence from June about Heard and Depp is therefore also the last sentence on the current status: it is to be feared that this is another chapter in a toxic relationship.

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