The actress filed the appeal earlier this month.
One week after Amber Heard filed to appeal the verdict in Johnny Depp's defamation case against her, the 59-year-old actor's attorney, Camille Vasquez, is speaking out. Vasquez sat down with Gayle King in a pre-taped interview that aired during CBS Mornings on Thursday and shared their response to Heard's appeal, saying they were not surprised that she filed it.
On July 21, ET obtained legal documents which showed that Heard filed her notice to appeal the June 1 verdict in which Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Due to the state's statutory cap, the punitive damages were later reduced to $350,000. One day later, Depp filed to appeal the verdict that awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages after he was also found liable despite winning the case.
"Absolutely," Vasquez told King when asked if they have to plan a strategy to respond to Heard's appeal. "And we did. Mr. Depp ended up filing his own appeal so that the court could have the full record. And – she insists on continuing to litigate this matter, and we have to protect our client's interest."
"We are just hopeful that the court will uphold the verdict, which we think was the right verdict, and allow both parties to move on," Vasquez added.
Vasquez told King that they would not have filed an appeal if Heard hadn't filed one first. "This was never about the money for Mr. Depp," she explained. "But in order to protect his interests, as his representative, we have to respond to the appeal with his own appeal."
After Heard's appeal on July 21, one of her spokespeople told ET, "We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment," adding, "We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today's filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice."
A spokesperson for Depp, meanwhile, told ET, "The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in multiple instances. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand."
Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in March 2019 after the Washington Post published an op-ed she wrote about being the victim of domestic violence. Depp's name was not mentioned in the article, however, the story came out as their contentious 2016 divorce continued to make news headlines. After a six-week trial, Depp won the case after the jury unanimously sided with him.
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