Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have mixed results in latest legal hearing over $50M defamation suit and her countersuit
In the latest legal hearing in Virginia between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, Fairfax County Judge Bruce D. White blocked Depp’s attempt to have Heard’s case against him thrown out of court amid a new law.
Heard was allowed to move forward in her $100 million counterclaims case against the 57-year-old actor after his attorney Adam Waldman last year dubbed her allegations of domestic violence ‘fake’ and a ‘sexual violence hoax,’ according to legal docs published on The Hollywood Reporter.
The Kentucky-born actor had tried to use a new anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) law passed in the state last year to have Heard’s suit tossed.
New details: In the latest legal hearing in Virginia between Amber Heard, 34, and Johnny Depp, 57, Fairfax County Judge Bruce D. White blocked Depp’s attempt to have the case thrown out of court amid a new law
Depp and his team were believed to have initially filed the suit in Virginia over a Washington Post op-ed she wrote because of their lack of a law (which has since been implemented) at the time.
But the judge nixed legal movement the Aquaman star, 34, had made citing the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, claiming Depp and his team orchestrated a bot attack on her via social media (to have her removed from Aquaman), citing a lack of evidence.
‘The pleading fails to demonstrate that the social media accounts communicated obscene language, suggested obscene acts, or threatened illegal or immoral acts,’ the judge said. ‘Rather, it appears that Mr. Depp texted those statements, privately, to two of his friends, and Ms. Heard has not alleged that Mr. Depp intended for her to see them.’
The Austin, Texas-born beauty countersued based on Waldman’s reaction to her accusations against the actor, known for playing Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Setback: The judge nixed legal movement Heard had made citing the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, claiming Depp and his team orchestrated a bot attack on her via social media
Individualist: Depp was seen in a bold ensemble last year in London
Depp fell short in his claims of anti-SLAPP immunity, the judge said, noting the lack of public concern and that the Edward Scissorhands actor ‘may have made these statements with actual or constructive knowledge or with reckless disregard for whether they are false.’
The judge added that Depp’s comments and Waldman’s ‘hoax’ remark ‘imply that Ms. Heard lied and perjured herself when she appeared before a court in 2016 to obtain a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp’ and ‘imply that she has lied about being a victim of domestic violence.
‘In light of the #MeToo Movement and today’s social climate, falsely claiming abuse would surely ‘injure [Heard’s] reputation in the common estimation of mankind,’ the judge wrote in his ruling. ‘Therefore, this Court finds that the statements contain the requisite “sting” for an actionable defamation claim.’
Doomed: Heard and Depp were snapped in January of 2016 in LA, months before their split
The judge concluded that Waldman’s remarks do not fall under protected opinion, as ‘whether Mr. Depp abused Ms. Heard is a fact that is capable of being proven true or false.’
In November, a U.K. judge ruled against Depp’s suit against an English publication for calling him a ‘wife-beater,’ citing that the accusations Heard made – that have negatively impacted the actor’s career – were ‘substantially true.’
Depp in November was cut from Fantastic Beasts 3 by Warner Bros., as he played Gellert Grindelwald in the J.K. Rowling series.
Depp’s case is slated to head to trial May 3, while Heard’s suit is expected to go before the court later on in the year.