The judge presiding over the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard announced that Heard must pay her former spouse over $10 million for compensatory and punitive damages for libel.
The jury ruled in Depp’s favor on Wednesday, with Heard being found guilty on all counts in connection with the defamation case he filed against her. After Judge Penney Azcarate read through the jury’s response to the core questions surrounding the trial, she announced that the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages to be paid by Heard, plus another $5 million in punitive damages.
As MSNBC anchor and legal contributor Katie Phang noted, there is a statutory cap on punitive damages that will result in that $5 million award being reduced to $350,000.
The proceeding also addressed Heard’s defamation counterclaims against Depp, and the jury determined that among the three claims she raised against him in their 2018 op-ed, Heard lost her first claim, won her second, but lost her third. The result was $2 million to be paid to Heard in compensatory damages related to statements made by Depp’s attorney in a Daily Mail article.
This post has been edited to account for the state law cap on punitive damages, meaning Depp was awarded $10.35 million by the jury before the $2 million Heard won for her own claim.
Watch above, via MSNBC.