Amber Heard and Johnny Depp had mixed results at the last legal hearing on the $ 50 million defamation lawsuit and its counterclaim
At the last 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 removed from court amid a new law.
Heard was allowed to pursue his $ 100 million counterclaim against the 57-year-old actor after his lawyer Adam Waldman last year dubbed his domestic violence allegations “false” and a “sexual violence fraud”, according to with legal documents published in The Hollywood Reporter.
The Kentucky-born actor tried to use a new anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) law passed in the state last year to have the Heard lawsuit filed.
New details: at the last legal hearing in Virginia between Amber Heard, 34, and Johnny Depp, 57, Fairfax County judge Bruce D. White blocked Depp’s attempt to withdraw the case from the court amid a new law
Depp and his team are believed to have initially filed the lawsuit in Virginia because of a Washington Post article she wrote due to the lack of a law (which has already been implemented) at the time.
But the judge rejected the legal move that the 34-year-old Aquaman star had made by citing the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, claiming that Depp and his team orchestrated a bot attack against her via social media (to remove her from Aquaman) , citing the lack of evidence.
“The request does not demonstrate that social media accounts communicated obscene language, suggested obscene acts or threatened illegal or immoral acts,” said the judge. ‘Instead, it appears that Mr Depp sent these statements, in particular, to two of his friends, and Mrs Heard did not claim that Mr Depp intended for her to see them.’
The Austin-born, Texas-born beauty responded based on Waldman’s reaction to his accusations against the actor, known for playing Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Setback: The judge rejected the legal move Heard had made citing the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, claiming that Depp and his team orchestrated a bot attack on her via social media
Individualist: Depp was seen in a daring ensemble in London last year
Depp has failed in his allegations of anti-SLAPP immunity, the judge said, noting the lack of public concern and that Edward Scissorhands ‘actor may have made these statements with real or constructive knowledge or with irresponsible indifference for being false.’
The judge added that Depp’s comments and Waldman’s ‘fraud’ remark imply that Mrs. Heard lied and perjured when she appeared in court in 2016 to obtain a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp ‘and’ implies that she lied about being a victim of domestic violence.
‘In light of the #MeToo Movement and today’s social climate, falsely claiming abuse would certainly harm [Heard’s] reputation in the common evaluation of humanity ‘, wrote the judge in his decision. ‘Therefore, this Court considers that the statements contain the’ sting ‘requirement for an actionable defamation action.’
Doomed: Heard and Depp were abducted in January 2016 in LA, months before their separation
The judge concluded that Waldman’s statements do not fit the protected opinion, such as ‘whether Mr. Depp abused Mrs. Heard is a fact that can be proved true or false’.
In November, a UK judge ruled against Depp’s lawsuit against an English publication for calling him a ‘woman beater’, citing that the charges made by Heard – which negatively impacted the actor’s career – were ‘substantially true’ .
Depp in November was cut from Fantastic Beasts 3 by Warner Bros., playing Gellert Grindelwald on the JK Rowling series.
Depp’s case is scheduled to go to trial on May 3, while Heard’s case is due to go to court later this year.