Johnny Depp has been ordered by a Manhattan judge to pay $38,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over evidence used in the defamation case against Amber Heard.
The non-profit organization originally asked the Pirates of the Caribbean star for a whopping $86,000 in attorneys' fees.
According to a report in Law & Crime, ACLU attorney Stephanie Taplin argued that the amount was "substantially spent by Mr. Depp from an implicit action to which neither the ACLU nor any of its employees are parties." Had gone. ,
However, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Angoron slashed the payable amount in half, which was originally sought after the actor's attorney filed a motion.
“Excessive and unreasonable,” Depp’s attorney Jessica Meyers dubbed the original demand of the nonprofit organization, which helped publish the Heard draft and the infamous op-ed in The Washington Post.
"They [ACLU] were responsible for drafting and placing the op-ed, which a Virginia jury found defamatory of Mr. Depp," Meyers said.
Following the court's ruling, an ACLU spokesperson told Newsweek that the organization was "delighted that the court considered that the ACLU complied with Mr. Depp's requests and did so at great expense."