By Dan Murphy
Now that actor Johnny Depp won his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard, legal scholars are pondering whether he should have also filed suit against the Washington Post. It was Amber’s Op-Ed in the WaPo from 2018 that Depp sued her for.
In the Op-Ed Heard accused Depp of domestic abuse. It is also interesting to note that the ACLU helped Heard write the piece, but that the editorial staff at the Washington Post crafted the headline, as is the norm.
Depp was awarded $10.35 by a Virginia who recently heard his defamation case. Legal opinions are mixed as to weather Depp could sue WaPo now, or whether he should have included the newspaper, and its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in his defamation suit against Heard.
Criminal defense attorney Brian Claypool told Fox News taht Depp “could absolutely sue the Washington Post. A grand decided that all three of the statements in that Washington Post op-ed were deemed defamatory.”
“it’s the duty of a newspaper… to vet or filter information before they publish it..The Washington Post is not off the hook.”
If the Washington Post chose not to print Heard’s Op-Ed, then it is possible that there would never have been the lawsuit, televised to the world and watched by millions.
Other legal eagles believe that Depp was wise to keep the WaPo out of his lawsuit. Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson, wrote on his blog about his response when questioned about the possibility of Depp suing the Washington Post.
Jacobson explained that Depp would have to prove that the WaPo editors knew that Heard’s allegations in her Op-Ed were untruthful, based on the legal standard of “actual malice” which was established in the 1964 Supreme Court case NY Times vs Sullivan. Jacobson said that while it was possible, a successful result for Depp was unlikely.
But Jacobson raised another point that many in the media have not reported on. Is the ACLU liable for their help drafting the Op-Ed for Heard? “Why is the American Civil Liberties Union getting involved in this Hollywood couple’s fight?”
“If the ACLU had the major hand in drafting this — that appears to be what happened — then they would be just as liable, potentially, as The Washington Post. Maybe more so because they had a hand in drafting it,” said Jacobson.
Media reports and courtroom recaps of the Depp-Heard case had Amber promising to make a donation of $3.5 Million to the ACLU as a thankyou for their help in writing the Op-Ed. But Heard has yet to make that promised payment.
