Johnny Depp & Amber Heard — The $50M Trial

Not technically about settlement size — the 2022 defamation trial was about $50 million in claims and $100 million in counterclaims. Depp won $10.35 million in damages; Heard won $2 million on her counterclaim. But the real cost was cultural: the trial was live-streamed to 3.5 billion views across platforms, making it the most-watched trial in history. Depp's career was resurrected; Heard's was destroyed. The case became a referendum on #MeToo, domestic abuse, and trial-by-TikTok. The lawyers billed an estimated $6 million per side. The internet billed nothing and delivered more damage than both legal teams combined.