Amber Heard's new legal team has filed an appeal against the verdict in the defamation suit brought by her former husband, Johnny Depp.
The US jury found in June that an opinion piece in The Washington Post in which she said she “became a public figure representing domestic abuse” defamed Depp to the tune of $10 million.
Heard secured one of three counter-claims against Depp, 59, and was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages, against which Depp is appealing.
“This case also should never have gone to trial because another court had already concluded that Depp abused Heard on multiple occasions," the filing said.
After Depp filed this case, the UK High Court of Justice ruled in a separate defamation action brought by him that Heard’s abuse allegations were true,” the document read.
Lawyers also contend that the trial should have never taken place in the state of Virginia.
Heard and Depp live in Los Angeles but his lawyers filed suit there on the argument that that is where The Post’s servers were.
“They filed there because he wouldn’t have won in Los Angeles,” someone close to the case told The National.
“A California jury would not have been starstruck by Depp. They would’ve seen right through him.”
Heard said the decision "undoubtedly will have a chilling effect on other women who wish to speak about abuse involving powerful men”.
She asks in the 156-page filing that the verdict be tossed or that she be granted a new trial.
Just last week, the abuse trial of actor Danny Masterson ended in a mistrial after three women accused him of similar acts of violence.
In New York, screenwriter Paul Haggis was found guilty on all counts in a civil rape trial.
The filing also objects to Judge Penney Azcarate’s decision to reject pieces of evidence such as Heard’s therapist’s notes in which she speaks of the abuse.
Depp and Heard met in 2009 when she auditioned to star opposite him in The Rum Diary. They married in 2015, but it was short-lived.
In May 2016, Heard filed for divorce and for a domestic violence temporary restraining order against Depp in Los Angeles Superior Court, submitting a declaration describing his temper, paranoia and substance abuse issues.
“I had to leave him,” the Aquaman star told the jury at the trial. “I knew I wouldn't survive if I didn't.
“Johnny would always say the only way out of [the marriage] was death. At the time, [filing for divorce] felt like the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
In November, feminist leader and Ms publisher Gloria Steinem, along with 130 other leaders and organisations, wrote an open letter in support of Heard.
"The vilification of Ms Heard and ongoing online harassment of her and those who have voiced support for her have been unprecedented in both vitriol and scale," the open letter read.
"Much of this harassment was fuelled by disinformation, misogyny, biphobia, and a monetised social media environment where a woman’s allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault were mocked for entertainment."
Ms Azcarate's decision to allow cameras in the courtroom also sparked many debates as proceedings with allegations of domestic abuse are rarely televised.
The trial took place over a span of seven weeks and is estimated to have been watched by more than a billion viewers.
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
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Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
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TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
