Hollywood actress Amber Heard has officially filed a motion at the Circuit Court of Fairfax County to appeal the defamation trial verdict which came in Johnny Depp’s favour.
Sharing their thoughts on the Aquaman actress’ latest attempt to win something in the legal battle against Depp, legal experts told Newsweek that Heard’s appeal is unlikely to be successful.
Attorney Andrew M. Lieb said he agreed with Heard’s team’s moves, but he stressed that her appeal “isn’t a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Amber Heard should 100 percent appeal her defamation trial loss against Johnny Depp because she has an as of right ability to file an appeal and failing to make the filing is an acknowledgment that she is stuck with a $10.35 million verdict against her,” Lieb told Newsweek.
“She is arguing improper juror service, but only on a technical basis, and absent a causal showing that the sitting of the juror resulted in bias or prejudice against her, the verdict will not be reversed,” Lieb added.
Brian Wagner, a partner at McLoughlin, O’Hara, Wagner & Kendall LLP agreed that Heard having a successful appeal would be “rare and unlikely.”
“The difficulty in an appeal is not only proving the court erred but also that the error caused a big enough error that the verdict was likely impacted. In short, that is rare and unlikely in this case.”
Camille Vasquez, one of Depp’s lawyers, broke her silence on the latest development between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s legal battle, saying: “We just are hopeful that the court will uphold the verdict, which we think was the right verdict, and allow both parties to move on.”
[ViaVia]
