 |
| Photo Credit: AP. |
A judge Wednesday dismissed jury fraud claims by Amber Head alleging that one of the jurors in the defamation case between her and ex-husband Johnny Depp had committed fraud.
A jury had
ruled that Heard defamed Depp in June which prompted Heard and her legal team
to seek a retrial, citing several reasons on grounds that an alleged fraud was
committed by juror 15 who was accused of taking the summons from his father who
goes by the same name.
"Juror
15 had a birth year of 1945. Juror 15, however, was clearly born later than
1945. Publicly available information demonstrates that he appears to have been
born in 1970," The filing submitted by Heard's lawyers said, according to
Newsweek.
“Newly
discovered facts” show Juror No. 15 in the six-week trial was not the
individual summoned in April to serve in the case, Heard’s attorney wrote in a
five-page memo filed in Virginia’s Fairfax Circuit Court, according to The
Associated Press.
Judge Penney
Azcarate ruled Wednesday that no fraud was committed because the summons did
not include a birth date, a tweet by Angenette Levy of Law and Crime Network
reads.
“Judge
Penney Azcarate denies all of #AmberHeard's post-trial motions - including
"Juror 15" claim,” Levy wrote.
Newsweek
reported that Azcarate’s order which was obtained by USA Today said: "Juror
Fifteen was vetted by the court on the record and met the statutory
requirements for service. The parties also questioned the jury panel for a full
day and informed the court that the jury panel was acceptable. Therefore, due
process was guaranteed and provided to all parties in this litigation. There is
no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing."
The order by
Azcarate also dismissed Heard’s claim that the $10 million compensatory damage
award to Depp was “excessive,” according to Newsweek.
"While
Ms. Heard slings an exceptional amount of mud at the wall in the hope that
something might stick, the jury's verdict on damages was perfectly reasonable
and supported by the evidence and testimony in this case," Depp's team
said.
Amber Head yet to pay $10 million in compensatory damages
Newsweek
reported that the actress still owes Depp $8.5 million in damages after they
were both found liable for defamation in their lawsuits against each other.
How it all began
Deep sued
his ex-wife over a December 2018 op-ed Heard wrote in The Washington Post
describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.
The
testimony focused mostly on whether Heard had been physically and sexually
abused as she had claimed. Deep accused his ex-wife of being the abuser, adding
that he never hit her.
The jury
ruled in Deep’s favor on all three of his claims relating to specific
statements in the 2018 article.
The jury
decided Deep should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million
in punitive damages but the judge reduced the punitive damages award to $359,
000 under a state cap, The Associated Press reported.