Amber Heard appeals $18.3m judgment

Amber Heard has appealed against the libel judgment that ordered her to pay her ex-husband Johnny Depp US$10.35 million ($18.3 million).

The high-profile trial found that Heard, 36, defamed Depp, 59, by claiming she was a victim of domestic violence in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

Heard was herself awarded US$2 million ($3.5 million) after one of Depp's lawyers said her allegations were a "hoax".

She claims in her appeal that there is no "clear and convincing evidence" that she acted maliciously in writing the article.

The actress also claims that Depp and his lawyers made it appear to the jury as if she was on trial for statements she made before the article was published in 2018.

"The trial court erred in allowing Mr Depp to argue or suggest at trial that the jury could award damages based on statements or conduct occurring prior to the publication of the challenged op-ed," the filing reads.

Heard also mentions Depp's defeat in a libel lawsuit in the UK in 2020, and says that should have been allowed as evidence.

The filing goes on to say the trial judge wrongly treated Heard's article as "actionable as statements of fact rather than non-actionable expressions of opinion".

Heard claims Depp's defeat in a libel lawsuit in the UK in 2020 should have been allowed as evidence. Photo / Getty Images

"The trial court erred in denying the motion to set aside the jury's verdict with regard to Mr Depp's failure to prove that the allegedly defamatory statements in the challenged op-ed each conveyed a defamatory meaning about him by implication and that any such implication was both designed and intended by Ms Heard," the legal document says.

The court filing also claims it was wrong for the trial to conclude that she wrote the headline on the article.

Depp and Heard married in 2015 and they divorced just over a year later.