One Of Amber Heard’s Insurance Companies Just Filed A Lawsuit Against Her To Get Out Of Paying The Defamation Judgement

ByBrian Warneron July 9, 2022inArticles›Entertainment

Amber Heard owes Johnny Depp $8.35 million. Though, technically speaking, at this exact moment she’s not obligated to pay him anything. That’s because Johnny has not yet “enforced” the judgement. Johnny must enforce the judgment to make it official. He could also choose to not enforce it.

If and when Johnny Depp enforces the judgment, Amber will quickly find herself in a very difficult position if she can’t afford to cut him a check for $8.35 million. And, based on our estimations, which were basically confirmed by Amber’s own legal team , Amber " absolutely can not " afford to cut a check for $8.35 million.

Before the judgment came down, we estimated that Amber Heard’s net worth was $2.5 million . We now assume she’s essentially in debt to the tune of around $6 million.

If Johnny enforces the judgment and Amber doesn’t pay up, he can start the process of going after her assets and applying to garnish future wages. It’s a brutal experience. You almost always see a debtor file for bankruptcy in anticipation of a debt enforcement. Unfortunately, bankruptcy may not be an option for Amber because defamation judgments can not be erased or reduced by bankruptcy if the person was found to have defamed with “actual malice.” In other words, if it was determined that the person caused the harm intentionally… not accidentally… then they defamed with actual malice, and that takes bankruptcy off the table. Most legal opinions I’ve read believe that Amber was judged to have defamed Johnny with actual malice. But, to be clear, I am not a lawyer.

The good news for Amber is that she has defamation insurance! The bad news is that one of Amber’s insurance companies just filed legal paperwork to get out of paying for the defamation judgement.

(Photo by MICHAEL REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

On Friday, New York Marine and General Insurance Co. (that’s one company), filed a lawsuit against Amber Heard in federal court seeking to be removed from an obligation to pay for a portion of the defamation debt. That portion would max-out at $1 million according to the terms of a liability protection policy she received from the insurer in 2019.

New York Marine is suing to not have to cough up $1 million because it claims her policy does not cover acts that were “willful misconduct.”

In its lawsuit, New York Marine asserted:

" Plaintiff contends it has no duty to defend Heard based on California Insurance Code 533 ."

That code states:

“A n insurer is not liable for a loss caused by the willful act of the insured .”

The lawsuit further claims:

" The jury’s factual findings establish that Heard’s liability is caused by the willful act(s) of Heard ."

And to make matters more complicated, New York Marine is also being sued… by another Amber’s OTHER insurance company.

According to testimony that was given during the Heard v. Depp lawsuit, Amber has also been thus-far protected by a defamation policy she has with a second company called Travelers Insurance. According to testimony, Travelers has covered $6 million worth of legal fees to date. Travelers is suing to get New York Marine to pay its portion of the defense costs and any potential damages that are eventually enforced.

Another unknown x-factor in this saga is whether or not either of these policies have maximum coverage amounts on the defamation judgment AND what Amber’s deductibles might be in that case. It’s entirely possible that all of the $8.35 million could be covered by insurance if Amber has a policy that goes that high.

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Amber Heard Absolutely Can Not Afford $10+ Million Judgment (According To Her Own Lawyer), So What Happens Next?

ByJoseph Gibsonon June 3, 2022inArticles›Celebrity News

As you’ve undoubtedly already heard by now, the verdict in the Johnny Depp /Amber Heard defamation case is in, and the final tally shakes out to Heard owing Depp a bit more than $10 million for defamation of character. To make matters worse for Ms. Heard, the actress does not have the financial wherewithal to cover this debt if it’s enforced.

Speaking with Savannah Guthrie on a Thursday morning episode of “The Today Show,” Amber’s lawyer was asked point-blank whether her client can afford to pay a $10.35 million judgment.

Her lawyer’s exact reply was:

" Oh, no. Absolutely not. "

Before the trial, we pegged Amber Heard’s net worth at $2.5 million. If that number is in the ballpark, and the $10.35 million judgment is enforced, Amber could conceivably be considered to to have a negative net worth at the moment.

So, what are Amber’s options going forward?

(Photo by EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

First, let’s do a brief breakdown on that $10.35 million.

The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages from Heard, plus another $5 million in punitive damages. But the latter was reduced to $350,000 following Virginia’s caps on punitive damages.

Interestingly, the jury also awarded Heard $2 million from Depp as part of her counter-suit. That still leaves an $8.35 million net debt owed to Johnny and limited options going forward.

Appeal

Heard’s attorney Elaine Charlson Bredehoft says that her client plans to appeal the ruling. Unfortunately that might not be so simple. If Amber wants to pursue an appeal, she will likely be required to post a bond for the full $10.35 million while the appeals process makes its way through the court, plus interest. Speaking to CBS News , Attorney Sandra Spurgeon put it like this:

“For an individual who doesn’t have the ability to pay the judgment and no ability to post the bond, then there is a real issue if the winning party intends to execute the judgment.”

If Heard does indeed appeal the decision and doesn’t post a bond for the amount of the award, that would place the decision on whether to execute the judgment with Depp, who of course is a much wealthier person from his decades as a high earning movie star. With his stated interest in getting “the truth” out over any dollar amount, it’s possible that he’d be willing to negotiate a lower settlement for Heard to cut her losses and drop her appeals. “He’s in the driver’s seat right now,” as Spurgeon put it, going on:

“[Depp has] already won in the court of public opinion…Maybe he’s willing to say, ‘If you drop the appeal, I’m willing to drop the judgment’.”

Depp could be willing to drop the matter and consider it a massive PR victory, but if that doesn’t happen and Heard is indeed unable to pay the judgment, two other options remain: the garnishing of future wages and even property holdings by, and declaring bankruptcy.

Earning Potential

As a film and television star, albeit one with something of a cloud hanging over her at this point, Amber could just work really hard to pay the debt down. If the debt was enforced, Amber’s future wages could be garnished, while other assets like real estate, jewelry, and so on, could also be up for grabs. However, the law does protect some financial assets from seizure in situations such as this one, like retirement accounts.

File for Bankruptcy

Another option would be to file for bankruptcy. But contrary to what you might assume, even that isn’t as simple as you might think. Bankruptcy law prohibits debts from “willful and malicious injury by the debtor” to be discharged through insolvency, and since the jury’s ruling specifies Heard’s “defamation with malice,” attorney Brian Pastor told CBS that could trigger a problem for Heard, should she go down this route – but again, that would only apply if Depp made the decision to formally object to her discharging the ruling through bankruptcy. As Pastor points out, any action on Depp’s part following a positive verdict could be seen as vindictive by the public and end up being more trouble than it’s worth:

“The overriding issue is, with someone like Depp, is that as a practical matter you want to go back to making movies that make you a giant payday, and therefore, the most important thing for you isn’t this $10.35 million, it’s your ability to get a paycheck for $10, $20, $30 million…Ticket buyers might be turned off by him going after her for that $10.3 million.”

Elon Musk to the Rescue?

Another hail-Mary option for Amber would be… Elon Musk .

The world’s richest person happens to be another ex-boyfriend of Amber’s. He could easily use a teeny-tiny portion of his $200+ billion net worth to settle Amber’s debt. And that wouldn’t be totally out-of-character for Musk. When Amber and Johnny initially divorced, she vowed to donate the multi-million-dollar settlement to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. In the trial we learned that Elon actually ponied up around $500,000 of the $1.3 million she has donated to the ACLU so far.

Speaking on the trial over Twitter, Elon recently said:

" I hope they both move on. At their best, they are each incredible. "

Maybe Elon can help them both move on with a little $8 million payment.

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