A judge on Wednesday rejected Amber Heard’s request for the high-profile defamation case involving her and her former husband, Johnny Depp, to be declared a mistrial.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the ruling comes after Heard's lawyers asked that the case be retried, alleging that a member of the jury was not actually called to serve for jury duty. According to legal documents filed by her team Friday, the discrepancy went unnoticed in part because the juror who did show up to court shares a name and address with the person who was meant to receive the summons.
There is, however, a 27-year age gap between the two, who are reportedly father and son. Depp's lawyers responded to the filing on Monday, calling it "desperate" and "frivolous." Judge Penney Azcarate reportedly agreed that there was no basis for Heard's motion, ruling Wednesday that she found "no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing." She went on to suggest that either father or son could have served, and that if Heard's team had a problem with it, they had "every opportunity to object" during the selection process.
"Juror Fifteen was vetted by the Court on the record and met the statutory requirements for service," Azcarate said in court documents. "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." The judge added that the jury selection process "was conducted in a fair and impartial manner, with the Court and both parties examining the potential jurors," and that Heard's lawyers were provided "the jury list five days prior to the commencement of trial and knew or should have known about the mistake."
For unversed, Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Post op-ed in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse (without mentioning Depp by name). Heard countersued for $100 million after a former lawyer for Depp, Adam Waldman, referred to her allegations as a hoax. Following six intense weeks of testimony in Fairfax County Circuit Court — the trial took place in Virginia because The Post’s printing presses and servers are located there — a seven-person jury on June 1 found that Heard had, in fact, defamed Depp with the op-ed.
He was awarded $15 million, a sum reduced to $10.35 million because Virginia law caps punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2 million after the jury found that Waldman had defamed Heard, one of three points made in her countersuit.
Also Read: Johnny Depp settles City of Lies assault and battery lawsuit ahead of trial in LA
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