Johnny Depp Allowed To Move Forward With $50 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Amber Heard

Johnny Depp has been allowed to move forward with his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard. The long legal battle between the two will now have another wrinkle as a Virginia judge has denied Heard’s supplemental plea to dismiss the case according to People. The Aquaman actress believed that the recent ruling in the U.K. libel lawsuit that Depp lost would help speed the process along. However, Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate wasn’t willing to throw the former Pirates of the Caribbean star’s lawsuit out. Essentially, Depp sued The Sun for libel because they called him a “wife-beater” in print. The U.K. publication won that legal battle and Heard’s representation believed that the defamation lawsuit’s validity would suffer as a result. Well, the 2019 Virginia case will now move forward as Depp thinks his brand has been irreparably damaged by the op-ed his ex-wife penned in The Washington Post. Further complicating matters for the actress is that she was actually not named as a party in The Sun lawsuit because Depp had filed his suit before she wrote the piece in question. It’s all incredibly messy, and here’s a nice synopsis from the judge.

“[Heard] argues she was in privity with The Sun because they both had the same interest in the case. However, for privity to exist, [Heard’s] interest in the case must be so identical with The Sun’s interest such that The Sun’s representation of its interest is also a representation of [Heard’s] legal right,” Azcarate said in the ruling. “The Sun’s interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false. [Heard’s] interests relate to whether the statements she published were false.”

When the suit was first introduced, Depp’s representation argued that all the allegations were false. They wrote in the actual document, “Mr. Depp never abused Ms. Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016. They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career.”

The actor had made his intentions plain when it came to how he would approach these legal battles. He wrote a statement for his fan after he stepped away from the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

“I wish to let you know that I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and I have respected and agreed to that request,” he began before offering that, “the surreal judgment of the court in the U.K. will not change my fight to tell the truth, and I confirm that I plan to appeal. My resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are false. My life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.”

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