For nearly a month now, Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard has seen the Pirates of the Caribbean star take the stand to recall his personal struggles with addiction, as well as go over testimonies and claims regarding Heard’s actions during their relationship. Ahead of Heard being scheduled to testify this week, her defense hit a setback in court regarding a request to throw out the suit.
During Tuesday’s continuation of the trial being publicly telecast on Court TV from a Fairfax, Virginia court (via Variety), Chief Judge Penney Azcarate dismissed a request from Amber Heard’s legal team. The Aquaman actress’ attorney Ben Rottenborn attempted to convince the court that the case should be thrown out altogether ahead of Heard taking the stand. However, Rottenborn failed to make his case, as Azcarate refused his argument.
Depp is suing Amber Heard for defamation following her 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Rottenborn’s failed argument claimed that Johnny Depp’s legal team did not present enough evidence to prove the case and challenged that Heard cannot be accountable for the headline of the article since it was drafted by the publication and it did not mention him by name in the text. Additionally, Rottenborn claimed that recent evidence proved that Depp abused Heard, at least verbally, even if physical abuse has not been proven in court.
On Depp’s side of the fence, his attorney Ben Chew argued that the evidence has shown that even though Amber Heard did not name Johnny Depp in her 2018 op-ed, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor lost $40 million in film earnings and left him shut out from upcoming movies following its publication due to the defamation of his name, via Depp’s accounting expert.
Chew also underlined an element of Depp’s testimony where an audio file has Heard admitting to “hitting” Johnny Depp. Numerous witnesses also testified that Heard engaged in psychological, verbal and physical abuse toward her ex-husband.
The judge will leave the defamation case ruling up to the jury to reach a verdict following Amber Heard and her legal team present their defense. Heard will take the stand with her own testimony, which will reportedly begin on Wednesday. Ahead of Heard’s testimony, the actress reportedly fired her PR rep due to her version of events not being properly conveyed to the public.
Previously, Johnny Depp attempted to sue The Sun for libel for calling him a “wife beater,” and he lost the case. It resulted in Warner Bros dropping the actor from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We’ll be continuing to follow how Depp’s $50 million defamation case progresses in court as Amber Heard and her defense presents their side of things starting this week.
