Johnny Depp’s Win in Court Could Embolden Others, Lawyers Say

Because the #MeToo motion fueled a public airing of sexual assault and misconduct allegations, defamation lawsuits rapidly turned a instrument for each the accused and accusers to hunt retribution and redemption.

Males accused of misconduct have more and more turned to defamation fits to attempt to clear their names, as have victims accused of constructing false allegations. However between the excessive prices of attorneys’ charges and the fears of showing embarrassing particulars in open courtroom, many such circumstances are settled earlier than they ever attain trial.

The bitter authorized battle between the actor Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard was intently watched partly as a result of it was one of many highest-profile defamation circumstances to make it to trial not too long ago, and several other attorneys stated that Mr. Depp’s victory in a Virginia courtroom on Wednesday — when he was awarded greater than $10 million in damages — might embolden others accused of abuse or misconduct to strive their luck with juries, regardless of the true dangers of airing soiled laundry in public.

Ugly fees of bodily abuse and lurid testimony got here to outline the Depp-Heard trial, which included one line of questioning about precise soiled laundry: the couple’s fierce argument over how the sheets in a Los Angeles penthouse the place they have been staying had turn out to be befouled. However the jury discovered ultimately that Ms. Heard had defamed Mr. Depp in a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Put up by which she referred to herself as a “public determine representing home abuse.”

“Some individuals will certainly take a look at this as a playbook for suing your accuser,” stated Charles Tobin, a First Modification lawyer who practices in Fairfax, Va., the place the trial performed out over six weeks, and who briefly represented the previous employer of a witness referred to as within the Depp case. The proceedings have been broadcast and livestreamed far past the partitions of the courtroom.

The $10.35 million award to Mr. Depp was offset by a $2 million partial victory for Ms. Heard, who countersued Mr. Depp for defamation after a lawyer representing him made a number of statements to a British tabloid calling her abuse accusations a “hoax.” The jury didn’t discover two of these statements defamatory, however discovered {that a} third — by which the lawyer had accused Ms. Heard of damaging the couple’s penthouse and calling 911 “to set Mr. Depp up” — did defame her.

Mr. Depp praised the decision, saying that “the jury gave me my life again,” whereas Ms. Heard described it as “heartbreaking.”

The result differed from that of a case in Britain, the place a decide had dominated two years in the past that there was proof that Mr. Depp had repeatedly assaulted Ms. Heard. That ruling got here in a libel swimsuit that Mr. Depp had filed after The Solar, a British tabloid newspaper, referred to as him a “spouse beater” in a headline. Whereas Britain is usually thought-about hospitable to libel circumstances, the decide who heard that case, Andrew Nicol, discovered that there was enough proof to conclude that many of the assaults Ms. Heard described had occurred, and he decided that what the newspaper had revealed was “considerably true.”

A number of high-profile defamation circumstances in recent times have been settled earlier than they reached trial. In 2019, seven girls who had accused Invoice Cosby of sexual assault, after which sued him for defamation after they have been accused of mendacity, settled their claims; a spokesman for Mr. Cosby stated that his insurance coverage firm had determined to settle the circumstances with out his consent. And the on line casino mogul Steve Wynn not too long ago agreed to a settlement of a defamation swimsuit he had filed towards the lawyer Lisa Bloom, who stated she would retract an announcement accusing him of inappropriate conduct involving a shopper.

Within the wake of the Depp verdict, a number of attorneys and authorized consultants stated, individuals accused of assault and misconduct might now be extra inclined to attempt to convey defamation circumstances to trial. And a few advocacy organizations and attorneys fear that the case might have a chilling impact on the victims of home violence or sexual abuse, including to their fears that they could possibly be punished for talking out.

“I do assume that well-resourced people who really feel slighted by speech that embarrassed or criticized them in a roundabout way might really feel emboldened by this verdict,” stated Nicole Ligon, a First Modification legislation professor who gives professional bono authorized recommendation for individuals contemplating going public with sexual misconduct accusations. “I think about a part of the rationale they’ll really feel emboldened is past the decision itself however the public response to it.”

The trial was captured by two cameras within the courtroom that allowed the testimony to be packaged into memes and on-line commentary — a lot of which mocked Ms. Heard’s accusations of abuse. In an interview with NBC’s “At present” present on Thursday, one in all Ms. Heard’s attorneys, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, stated that the cameras had turned the trial right into a “zoo.”

Earlier than the trial, Ms. Bredehoft had sought to influence the decide to dam cameras from the courtroom, arguing that Ms. Heard could be describing incidents of alleged sexual violence and predicting that “anti-Amber” networks would take statements out of context and play them repeatedly.

“The potential for saturation of an unsequestered jury is an amazing threat on this case,” Ms. Bredehoft argued, in line with a courtroom transcript from February.

Choose Penney S. Azcarate ordered that cameras be allowed, sustaining that Ms. Bredehoft’s argument about victims of sexual offenses would solely pertain to felony trials. The decide advised that permitting cameras might make the courthouse “safer” by giving a broader viewers of viewers entry to the case remotely.

Mr. Depp might have gained a victory in courtroom, however it might take greater than that to revive his profession, or for Walt Disney Studios, which has forged Mr. Depp in a number of starring roles, to get again into enterprise with him.

The studio declined to remark, however two Disney executives privately pointed to his field workplace monitor report as the first cause: None of his Disney films have succeeded outdoors of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise since “Alice in Wonderland” in 2010. “Alice By the Trying Glass” was a misfire in 2016, taking in 70 p.c lower than its predecessor worldwide. “The Lone Ranger” was a big-budget bomb in 2013. Besides as Captain Jack Sparrow within the “Pirates” movies, he has not been a field workplace draw not too long ago.

As for the “Pirates” franchise, Disney determined lengthy earlier than the trial to half methods with Mr. Depp and reboot the sequence, which, whereas nonetheless formidable on the field workplace, had been in decline in North America, falling 20 p.c to 30 p.c with every installment. Mr. Depp additionally wore out his welcome with tardiness and different points that got here out on the trial, the place a former expertise agent testified that he wore an earpiece on set in order that his traces could possibly be fed to him.

However Mr. Depp’s victory — which a lawyer for Ms. Heard stated she would attraction — could seem engaging to accused litigants who’re desperately looking for an analogous redemption arc, stated Andrew Miltenberg, a lawyer whose agency recurrently defends individuals accused of sexual misconduct. Proper after the Depp-Heard verdict was introduced, Mr. Miltenberg stated, he obtained a couple of dozen emails from purchasers asking him if it will profit their circumstances.

“I can see individuals saying, ‘I would like that type of victory to get my life again on monitor,’” stated Mr. Miltenberg.

A number of massive defamation circumstances are nonetheless pending. E. Jean Carroll, who sued former President Donald J. Trump after he stated that she had lied about his raping her. The actress Ashley Judd’s defamation lawsuit towards the producer Harvey Weinstein has been on maintain throughout his felony proceedings in California. She sued after studying {that a} director stated that Mr. Weinstein’s studio, Miramax, had described her as a “nightmare to work with.”

A number of attorneys famous that Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard’s battle was so advanced and singular in its stage of public spectacle that folks ought to be cautious of drawing any lasting conclusions about how their very own authorized proceedings would unfold.

“It is a distinctive case of public figures airing their personal soiled laundry,” stated Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer who represented the Cosby accusers of their defamation case. “It shouldn’t dissuade somebody who has a official case from looking for justice.”

Brooks Barnes and Graham Bowley contributed reporting.