- The $15 million Amber Heard owed Johnny Depp was almost immediately reduced to around $10 million.
- However, the nearly $1 billion owed by Jones won’t be reduced in the same way.
- It depends on the kinds of damages awarded by the jury, as well as if or how state law caps them.
When a jury doled out damages in the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp defamation case earlier this year, the large sum owed by the actress was almost immediately reduced thanks to laws that won’t similarly help Alex Jones reduce his nearly $1 billion judgment.
In June, a Virginia jury found both Depp and Heard liable for defaming each other in what was widely considered a win for Depp. The actor had sued his ex-wife for calling herself a victim of domestic violence in a 2018 op-ed, which was followed by a countersuit from Heard.
While the jury awarded Heard $2 million in damages, Depp was awarded $15 million. However, the amount owed by Heard was quickly reduced to around $10 million in order to comply with Virginia state law concerning punitive damages.
Juries can award different kinds of damages, including punitive and compensatory.
“Punitive are simply looking to punish a defendant. Compensatory damages are looking to make a plaintiff whole,” Matthew Barhoma, attorney and founder of Power Trial Lawyers and Barhoma Law, told Insider.
Heard was initially ordered to pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. However, because Virginia state law caps punitive damages at $350,000, the judge overseeing the case reduced what she owed. The total, what she was ordered to pay Depp went from $15 million to just over $10 million almost immediately.
A Connecticut jury on Wednesday avoided a similar situation after ordering Jones to pay $965 million for defaming Sandy Hook families. Jones spent years spreading false conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 first graders and six adults dead.
But the jury categorized all of the damages as compensatory, rather than punitive. Lawyers told Insider Connecticut state law has no cap for compensatory damages, meaning the verdict would not be immediately reduced by the judge. Jones will likely appeal, but Barhoma noted an appellate court may be hesitant to interfere with compensatory damages awarded by a jury.
Connecticut does have caps on punitive damages, which the judge may still choose to award at a later date, according to CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Punitive damages in the state would be capped at lawyers’ fees and litigation costs, he said.
States have broad freedom to set their own caps on various types of damages, so such limits vary widely from state to state.
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