Johnny Depp moves to block Amber Heard's appeal to overturn $10 million case verdict

Actor Johnny Depp has moved to block ex-wife Amber Heard's appeal to the jury's verdict in the multi-million dollar defamation case she lost.

According to Deadline Friday, Depp's move came mere hours after the 36-year-old actress filed a formal notice of intent in the Virginia Court of Appeals.

A four-page notice filed by Depp's legal team on Friday in Fairfax County reads, "Plaintiff and Counterclaim-Defendant John C. Depp, II, by counsel, hereby appeals to the Court of Appeals of Virginia from all adverse rulings and from the final judgment order of this Circuit Court entered on June 24, 2022."

A Virginia jury in June awarded $10 million in damages to Depp after finding that a 2018 newspaper column penned by Heard was defamatory.

The 59-year-old Depp sued Heard over a Washington Post op-ed in which she did not name him, but described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."

Heard, who counter-sued, was awarded $2 million.

ALSO READ:

• Amber Heard appealing verdict in Depp defamation trial

• After sensational trial, Johnny Depp releases an album

The jury reached the verdict after an intense six-week trial riding on bitterly contested allegations of domestic abuse.

The case, live-streamed to millions, featured lurid and intimate details about the Hollywood celebrities' private lives.

Earlier this month, a judge rejected Heard's demand for a new trial - sought on grounds that one of the seven jurors was not the man summoned for jury service but his son, in a case of mistaken identity.

• Newsletters
• Americas