Johnny Depp wins defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard

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Amber Heard settlement ‘enshrines’ Johnny Depp win, expert says

December 21, 2022

Amber Heard agreed to pay Johnny Depp $1 million to settle his libel suit against her – a deal that “enshrines his victory” and is a “clever PR move” for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star, they say experts at Fox News Digital.

“It’s a resignation,” civil and criminal attorney Tim Parlatore said of Heard’s decision to drop his appeal. “It enshrines his victory. It consolidates his victory.”

A successful six-week libel trial in June ended in defeat for Heard.

A Virginia jury awarded Depp $15 million after finding his ex-wife defamed him by portraying herself as a victim of domestic violence in a 2018 op-ed. Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the judgment to 10.35 millions of dollars.

AMBER HEARD SETTLE JOHNNY DEPP DEFAMATION CASE FOR $1M

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in court on May 23, 2022.
(AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)

The jury only awarded Heard $2 million in his countersuit. The $1 million settlement will be paid by one of Heard’s insurance policies.

In a lengthy statement on Instagram on Monday, Heard wrote “I stood up for my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed.”

Heard added that the agreement places no restrictions on his ability to speak about the case or his abuse allegations.

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“I made no confession, this is not an act of concession,” she wrote. But Parlatore noted that if she published another op-ed making the same allegations the jury found defamatory, “She could absolutely be sued again, and he would win because he already has a conclusion.”

Johnny Depp and his lawyer, Camille Vasquez, during his libel trial against ex-wife Amber Heard in June.
(Shawn Thew)

Her Instagram statement was clearly verified — if not written down — by an attorney, Parlatore said.

“It’s all phrased in terms of ‘I told my truth in court,’ but it doesn’t come out and say he did this or that to me,” he said.

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New York attorney Todd Spodek called the settlement a “generous gesture” on Depp’s part.

“The verdict achieved its primary purpose, which was public vindication,” he said. “You can’t get blood from a stone, and if Amber doesn’t have money, she doesn’t.”

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He added that Depp pledging the million dollars to charity had a rich irony after it was revealed that Heard had only given a small fraction of her promised $7 million divorce payment. to hand over in full to the ACLU and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Actress Amber Heard, right, and her sister Whitney Heard, second from left, leave the Fairfax County Courthouse on June 1, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia.
(Rod Lamkey/Consolidated News Photos)

Eric Schiffer, president of Los Angeles-based Reputation Management Consultants, called the settlement “an incredibly smart PR move for Depp.”

“It shows compassion and saves Amber from having to file for bankruptcy with a young child he caused,” Schiffer told Fox News Digital.

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Depp’s attorneys, Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez, said the case was never about money for their client.

“We are pleased to officially close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who has made it clear throughout this process that his priority is getting the truth out,” they said in a statement.

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Spodek added that a little foresight might have helped the former couple a lot, who have been publicly battling since their split in 2016.

“They should have taken writer Nora Ephron’s wise advice, ‘Never marry someone you wouldn’t want to divorce,'” he said.

Rebecca Rosenberg is a veteran journalist and book author specializing in crime and criminal justice. Email tips to rebecca.rosenberg@fox.com and @ReRosenberg.