Johnny Depp vs Amber heard verdict

In October 2020, the judge in the case dismissed Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman after he leaked confidential information covered by a protective order to the media.

Following the verdict in Depp's lawsuit against The Sun the next month, Heard's lawyers filed to have the defamation suit dismissed, but judge Penny Azcarate ruled against it because Heard had not been a defendant in the UK case.

In August 2021, a New York judge ruled that the ACLU must disclose documents related to Heard's charity pledge to the organization.

The Depp-Heard trial took place in Fairfax County, Virginia from April 11, 2022, to June 1, 2022.

In their verdict, the jury found that all three statements from Heard's op-ed were false, defamed Depp, and made with actual malice, so the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages from Heard.

The punitive damages were reduced to $350,000 due to a limit imposed by Virginia state law.

For Heard's counter-suit, the jury found that Waldman's first and third statements to the Daily Mail were not defamatory, while finding that Waldman's second statement to the Daily Mail was false, defamatory and made with actual malice.

As a result, Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and zero in punitive damages from Depp.

Depp reacted to the result of the trial by declaring that the "jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled. Depp also stated that he was "overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and the colossal support and kindness from around the world.

He continued: "I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up Depp also highlighted "the noble work of the Judge, the jurors, the court staff and the Sheriffs who have sacrificed their own time to get to this point", and praised his "diligent and unwavering legal team" for "an extraordinary job".