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Trying to turn the tide in his legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic, Johnny Depp again failed and it could end up costing the former. Pirates of the Caribbean star up to $ 100 million.
While Depp waits for his offer for a new UK libel suit to be accepted, a judge in Virginia has turned down the Oscar nominee’s desire to have Amber Heard’s counterclaims thrown out of court. Hoping to take advantage of a new anti-SLAPP law in the state, Depp has sought to see a large number of statements made by himself and at least one of his attorneys about the veracity or “hoax” of the. Heard’s longstanding abuse allegations during the couple’s short-lived marriage cleared from the case.
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No way, said Fairfax County Judge Bruce White.
Remarks by Depp and attorney Adam Waldman in the media in recent years “imply Ms Heard lied and perjured herself when she appeared in court in 2016 for a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp, ”wrote White in his Jan. 4 notice. (read it here). “In addition, they suggest that she lied about being the victim of domestic violence,” he adds with a wink at the end of 2018. Washington post The Heard Editorial wrote about domestic violence that launched Depp’s $ 50 million libel suit a few months later.
“In light of the #MeToo movement and the current social climate, falsely claiming abuse would surely be [Ms. Heard’s] reputation in the common esteem of humanity, ”White continued, citing another defining case. “Therefore, the Court finds that the statements contain the required ‘bite’ for a libel action.”
“While Mr. Depp’s statements (and those of his lawyer) can be understood as their opinion on what happened, these statements nonetheless imply that Mr. Depp did not abuse Ms. Heard,” added the judge. “These statements must survive demotion because the question of whether Mr. Depp abused Ms. Heard is a fact that can be proven true or false.”
After numerous delays (some linked to the Covid-19 pandemic), this initial case is currently ready to be tried on May 3. Failing to dismiss Depp’s case, Heard doubled down and launched his $ 100 million counterclaim last summer. This case is also expected to be tried later this year.
That said, it’s not just green lights and parking spaces for the Aquaman star this week.
Like Depp, Heard failed to protect her statements with the anti-SLAPP promulgated by Virginia in February 2020. As a result, Heard lost her offer under the Virginia Computer Crimes Act to claim that her ex-husband had tried to corrupt his name.
“The plea fails to demonstrate that social media accounts communicated obscene language, suggested obscene acts, or threatened illegal or immoral acts,” White said of the online robot army which Heard said , was unleashed against her in order to untie her Aquaman franchise. “On the contrary, it appears that Mr. Depp sent these statements, privately, to two of his friends, and Ms. Heard has not alleged that Mr. Depp intended her to see them.”
Yet nearly two months after being sacked by Warner Bros. (with full pay) from the Fantastic beasts franchise after losing UK libel lawsuit against owner Rupert Murdoch The sunDepp has not gained popularity in any of his current cases.
Granted, the Hollywood Vampires guitarist got White’s approval last month for his The rum diary co-starred in handing over her ten-year-old arrest record and the documentation of how she allocated a $ 7 million divorce settlement intended for charity in 2016. However, in other large parts of this “wide range of irrelevant, excessive and privileged discoveries,” (To quote Heard’s opposition filed on December 11), Depp was rejected by the courts of Virginia as he had been on a previous occasion in a similar movement.
Perhaps more importantly for Depp’s tarnished and frayed reputation and career, the UK Court of Appeal has yet to respond to the actor’s fervent involvement on Christmas Eve for a retrial of this side of the pond.
Depp litigation continued The sun on a column from its editor stating that there was “overwhelming evidence” that the actor was a “wife beater.” After a 16-day trial in July in the High Court which saw Depp and Heard commercial charges for their conduct during their stormy relationship, Judge Andrew Nicol ruled on November 2 that The sunThis person’s claim was “essentially true”.
Failing to receive a call, Depp shifted gears to salvation in the form of a new trial.
“This was a very public judgment, handed down by a single judge, drawing devastating conclusions from extremely serious criminal offenses that had been committed, and where it had wider implications for the general public, in particular the victims. , or those wrongly accused, of alleged domestic violence. Depp’s British attorney (attorney) David Sherborne wrote to the Court of Appeal late last month.
Nicol “concluded that the appellant was guilty of serious physical assault without taking into account or even acknowledging that Ms. Heard had been untrue in her testimony, without testing her account against documentary evidence and the testimony of other witnesses, and without firing no conclusion. that he did not believe these witnesses, ”added the former legal representative of Donald and Melania Trump and Tony and Cherie Blair, among many others.
“The judge did not properly assess his credibility by referring to documentary evidence, photographs, tapes or whatever,” Sherborne also said in his Dec. 24 correspondence.
Whether this is enough to see UK courts wipe the plate and go to another trial remains to be seen. What is clear is that there will be a lot more mud dumped in the UK and US between Depp and Heard for a long time – and that may be the biggest step for the former for a while.
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