Amner Heard’s attorney revealed Thursday that the actress is “broke” after legal fees associated with the defamation trial that ended with a jury finding her guilty of defaming her former husband, Johnny Depp.
According to NBC Today, Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, said Heard, who owes Depp $10.4 million, doesn’t have the means to cover the judgment, which was handed down after jury deliberations in Fairfax, Virginia, on Wednesday.
“Oh, no, absolutely not,” Bredehoft said when asked if Heard could cover the judgment against her.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the questions at issue during the trial were whether Heard’s 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post defamed Depp and whether Adam Waldman, an attorney who represented Depp at the time, defamed Heard when he called her allegations of abuse “a hoax.”
Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The judge reduced the punitive damages to $350,000 in accordance with Virginia’s statutory cap.
The jury, however, also ruled in Amber Heard’s favor in her countersuit against Johnny Depp and awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages, AP reports.
New York Post reports that numerous sources stated that Heard was forced to switch legal representation and used her homeowner’s insurance policy to cover the costs of her current law team.
“It’s a little oddity that most people don’t know. In most homeowner insurance policies, there is coverage if you are sued for defamation based on how much you pay through coverage,” Trial attorney Heather Heidelbaugh told the Post.
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[Feature Photo: Actor Amber Heard hugs her attorney Elaine Bredehoft after the verdict was read at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Va, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. The jury awarded Johnny Depp more than $10 million in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. It vindicates his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage. But the jury also found in favor of Heard, who said she was defamed by a lawyer for Depp.(Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)]
