Entertainment-industry expert who assessed the parties’ claimed career losses.
2022 Defamation TrialApr 11 – Jun 1, 2022
Called by defendant
521 lines·3 proceedings·11 highlights
About
Kathryn Arnold testified as an entertainment-industry consultant for Heard. She disputed the claim that Heard’s 2018 op-ed caused Depp’s career downturn, saying problems affecting his work began years earlier. She also said an article cited as evidence of the op-ed’s impact appeared in print the same morning and could not have resulted from it.
For Heard’s counterclaim, Arnold attributed later career setbacks to statements by Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman and estimated $45 million to $50 million in projected film, television and endorsement earnings over five years. Cross-examination challenged whether the timing of those events established causation, her choice of comparable performers and the basis for her estimate. On redirect, Arnold said her calculation used Heard’s negotiated contract rates rather than the comparables’ earnings. Rebuttal experts later disputed her salary assumptions, comparisons and causal conclusion.
Trial Record (3)
2022 Defamation TrialApr 11, 2022 – Jun 1, 20223 proceedings
Defense entertainment expert Kathryn Arnold testifies that Depp's career decline predated the op-ed and that the Waldman defamatory statements caused $45–50M in losses to Heard.
Dennison questioned Arnold about the claimed link between Waldman's statements and Heard's career losses, her comparable actors, and the basis for her earnings estimate.
Highlights (3)
Quote
“I'm not a firefighter. I'm not going to go there with you. But, obviously, we know that a single match can cause thousands of acres to burn, so we can leave it at that.”
Bredehoft rehabilitates Arnold's damages methodology, re-establishes the Waldman causal chain, and uses the Aquaman 2 script to show Heard's pre-statement film prospects.
Highlights (4)
Quote
“Again, they-- we talked about this earlier; we talked about some of the hashtags based on Waldman; we talked about the Waldman. So, there's a lot of connective tissues between the negative social media campaigns and the Waldman statements.”
“No. Again, I was very specific in using the actual negotiated rates that Ms. Heard's agents were able to get for her in that contract and used that as a precedent. So I always wanted to ground it in what Ms. Heard was in contract and what her agents negotiated, and I used that as the baseline for the financial numbers of her loss.”
“In my experience, with a movie as high profile as Aquaman, they keep the scripts very tight. They don't let anybody read them They are numbered, they have your name on it. So if you're getting a script for a movie such as Aquaman, that's kept tightly close to the vest, if you will, by the studio, they want you to be in the movie; otherwise, they would never give you a script.”