Judging Freedom - Johnny Depp, Amber Heard VERDICT

Episode Date: June 1, 2022

Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard VERDICT #johnnydepp #verdict #amberheardSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Heard lawsuit, a lawsuit filled with disgusting allegations by each side against the other. The lawsuit began when Amber Heard, formerly the wife of Johnny Depp and he, her husband, published an op-ed piece referring to herself as the poster child for domestic abuse. But the inference from the article was that the domestic abuse occurred while she was married to Johnny Depp, whereupon he sued her for $50 million, claiming she made this up. She sued him for $100 million, claiming that what he said about her in the lawsuit and what his lawyer said about her at the time the lawsuit was filed was made up. So these are each defamation claims. Defamation means the reputation of an individual has been defamed.

It's been lessened. But each of these is a public figure. They are well known. And when public figures sue for defamation in America, they have a very, very high standard they have to meet called actual malice. So each side had to prove that the other side said what they said, knowing it was false, or were reckless in their concern for whether it was true or false. A very, very high standard to meet. This is why public figures and public

officials, like say former President Trump, who has sued a lot of people for defamation, rarely prevail because it's almost impossible to show that the defendant, the defamer, the alleged defamer, said something he or she knew was untrue or was reckless in his or her concern for the truth. However, in this case, both sides proved defamation, but Johnny proved more. So the jury awarded Johnny Depp $15 million and awarded Amber Heard $2 million. That means that they each proved that the other acted with actual malice. They each proved that the other said things that they knew were false or were reckless in their disregard for whether what they said was true or false. Obviously, they don't exchange checks. The verdict for Johnny Depp is reduced from $15 million down to $13 million, a simple deduction of $15 minus two. Judges don't like these cases. These are just, if you'll pardon the phrase, pissing contests, grudge matches between rich celebrities who basically abused the system. The law prefers that if a public figure has been defamed, that the public figure use the megaphone that the public figure has. He can hold a press conference and everybody would watch it and use that to right the wrong rather than tie up the court system. In this case, this courtroom

and this courthouse were tied up for six weeks. The judge was very cheerful. I might not have been as cheerful. I might have been, this is crazy. Why are you wasting my time? Go out and tell your story to the public. You're both worth a fortune. You don't need to take money from each other. But this judge was very charming, very affable, very patient with both sides. Now the case is over. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.