Last month, it was reported that Amber Heard’s lawyers filed the paperwork on July 21 in Fairfax County, Virginia, alerting the court they would be filing an appeal in the case where jurors awarded Johnny Depp USD 10 million in damages after finding the actress liable for defamation in her 2018 op-ed for Washington Post. Heard reportedly has now hired a new legal team.
According to reports, the Aquaman actress hired new legal counsel to go ahead and appeal the defamation trial verdict. As per Entertainment Tonight, Heard will be represented by David L. Axelrod and Jay Ward Brown of Ballard Spahr as her lead appellate counsel. The lawyers famously defended The New York Times against Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit earlier this year.
In a joint statement, Axelrod and Brown also admitted that they will be working with Heard on the case and said, “We welcome the opportunity to represent Ms. Heard in this appeal as it is a case with important First Amendment implications for every American.”
Following the July 21 court filing regarding appealing the verdict, the Aquaman actress’ spokesperson said, “We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment. We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice”, via ET.
In the meantime, Johnny Depp seems to be focussing on his Hollywood career return post-trial win and it was recently reported that the actor will be directing a film after 25 years and it is being produced by Al Pacino.
