Lawyers for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have failed to reach a last-minute agreement which might have seen the damages the actress owed to her former husband be reduced, following their six week defamation trial which ended earlier this month.
Instead, the judge in the trial made the jury’s award official on Friday with a written order for Heard to pay Depp $10.35 million for damaging his reputation by describing herself as a domestic abuse victim in an op-ed piece she wrote.
Judge Penney Azcarate finalized the verdict as she entered a judgment order into the court record after a brief hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Neither Depp nor Heard were present.
She also ordered Depp to pay Heard $2 million, the jury’s award on her counterclaim that Heard was defamed by one of Depp’s lawyers.
The order was a formality after the jury announced its verdict on June 1, largely siding with Depp after a sensational trial in which the couple revealed lurid details of their short marriage during a televised trial that was closely followed on social media.
