Johnny Depp ordered to pay $38K to the ACLU in Amber Heard case
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Credit: AP
Johnny Depp has been ordered to pay $38,000 to the ACLU, a month after winning the high-profile defamation suit against his former wife Amber Heard.
Here is everything you need to know.
Johnny Depp ordered to pay $38,000 to the ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking Johnny Depp to pay $38,000 to compensate for the attorney fees.
The organization allowed its lawyers to produce evidence that Depp subpoenaed and used against Amber Heard in the libel suit.
During the trial, the ACLU initially demanded $86,000 from the Pirates of the Caribbean actor as reimbursement for production expenses.
The ACLU reportedly evaluated 7,500 documents and submitted more than 2,000 papers which took a lot of time.
The ACLU’s lawyer, Stephanie Teplin, argued that the $86,000 is a ‘substantial expense spent responding to onerous subpoenas served by Mr. Depp from an underlying action in which neither the ACLU nor any of its employees are parties.’
Teplin added that the actor allegedly requested thousands of documents over six years as evidence to be used in the lawsuit.
#JohnnyDepp ordered to pay the #ACLU $38K for time & expenses associated with the court document production. ACLU originally asked JD to pay $86K & JD's lawyers called BS, saying the tab was "exorbitant and unreasonable."The judge sided with JD & cut the bill in 1/2. #AmberHeard pic.twitter.com/BwHsATupU5
— JenBYo (@JenYoung1981) July 2, 2022
Regardless, Depp’s attorneys filed a motion earlier in June with the New York State Supreme Court opposing the ACLU’s request.
Brown Rudnick’s Jessica Meyers called the ACLU’s original request ‘exorbitant and unreasonable’ and refused to pay $86,000.
On Friday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron decided that the ACLU should receive $38,000 from the star.
After the ruling, the ACLU spokesperson said, ‘We are pleased that the Court recognized that the ACLU complied with Mr. Depp’s requests and did so at great expense.’
Meyers on the other hand mentioned, ‘They [ACLU] were responsible for drafting and placing the op-ed that the Virginia jury just found to be defamatory to Mr. Depp.’
How did the ACLU help Johnny Depp during the defamation trial?
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In 2016, Amber Heard publicly declared that she will equally divide and donate her divorce settlement to charity. The ACLU was supposed to receive $3.5 million.
During Heard’s cross-examination, it was revealed that the actress is yet to honor the pledge she made to the ACLU.
Furthermore, multiple witnesses from the ACLU testified in favor of Depp throughout the gruesome six-week-long trial.
It was also discovered that the Aquaman star received aid from the ACLU in penning down her 2018 op-ed.
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