Depp v.

Heard
An insight into the most famous defamation
case of our generation
The court filing
from Depp’s legal
team to the Fairfax
county court
A continuation of the
44-page filing – which
contains several
points of the opening
argument that will be
given 3 years later!
 Depp v News Group Newspapers
A lawsuit filed in July 2020 for an article written from The Sun published by News Group
Newspapers calling Depp a ‘Wife beater’
Article from The Sun
after Depp loses his
libel case in London,
exercising their full
right to freedom of
press…

Did not age very well

after Depp v Heard
Before we begin on the headline trial…
Heard’s defamation countersue
• ‘Sexual violence hoax’
• ‘Heard and her friends use sexual violence as both a sword and shield
against Depp’
• Heard is a perpetrator of abuse instead of a victim
The structure of this trial (and most others)
The
Prosecution’s
opening
statements

Pictured left– Benjamin

Chew, Plaintiff’s legal
team
The statements of contention in the op-ed
The
defense's
opening
statements

Pictured left – Heard and

her two attorneys, Ben
Rottenborn & Elaine
Bredhoft
Let’s have
some
participation
Depp’s witnesses
Trial testimonies Cross examination
Depp’s neighbour during their marriage, Isaac Baruch Cross of Isaac Baruch
Economics damages expert, Michael Spindler
Forensic psychologist, Shannon Curry Horrible cross examination of expert witness
Heard’s witnesses
Trial Testimonies Cross examination
Heard’s own forensic psychologist, Dawn Hughes
Depp’s former psychiatrist, Alan Blaustein
One of Depp’s attorneys? Adam Waldman
Cross of David Spiegel, psychologist
Heard’s younger sister, Whitney Henriquez Cross of Whitney Henriquez

What Heard actually paid to the ACLU

What bad legal representation looks like…
• A mega pint?
• An example of how not to use a witness
• My dog stepped on a bee
The closing statements
The verdict…

• Depp had proven the op-ed as

defamatory, and Heard as having
actual malice in writing/publishing the
article.
• $10 million in compensation, $5
million in punitive damages to Depp
from Heard (reduced to $350k as per
state law)
The influence of social
media on the trial
• “We didn’t take into account anything outside… They
were very serious accusations and a lot of money involved.
So we weren’t taking it lightly”
Food for thought…
• Do you think that the verdict of this case sets any sort of precedent for victims of any crime to speak up in
the law?
• Did livestreaming the event create unnecessary influence from social media?
• Why did Depp choose Virginia to file his lawsuit? State law limits sums awarded for punitive damages to
$350,000
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