Johnny Depp and Amber Heard to Confront in Defamation Case


Actor Johnny Depp could not persuade judge in london He says he is innocent of allegations that he molested his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, but in a trial that begins Monday, the actor will take his defamation complaint to a jury in Virginia.

The US case focuses on a lawsuit filed by Mr. Depp against Ms. Heard. who wrote an op-ed She said in the Washington Post in 2018 that after the couple divorced, she had become “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

Mr. Depp was not named in the work, but the actor claimed in court documents that he made explicit reference to their relationship, as a result of which his reputation and career were “destroyed”.

During the three-year legal debate in Virginia, Mr. Depp, 58, and Ms. Heard, 35, shared pages of gruesome details from their changing accounts of their marriage. According to court documents, Ms Heard’s statements about “volatile and violent” events throughout their relationship with Mr Depp included Depp slapping her, banging her head, throwing her on the ground and pulling her hair in clumps.

In his lawsuit filed in March 2019, Mr. Depp denied being a domestic abuser and said Ms Heard’s accusations were an “elaborate hoax” aimed at bolstering his public personality. The MeToo movement.” Mr Depp said Ms Heard was the perpetrator of the abuse, and court documents accused him of punching, kicking, and throwing objects, including a vodka bottle, which he said shattered on the counter and severed the tip of one of his fingers.

“Mr. Depp is filing this defamation lawsuit to clear his name,” he said.

Ms. Heard said in court papers that she had never attacked Mr. Depp except in self-defense or defending her younger sister, and that Mr. Depp cut the tip of his finger when his phone smashed against the wall during a violent attack. explosion.

“I did not inflict physical violence on anyone,” he wrote. “I know what that does to people.”

The trial at Fairfax County Circuit Court is expected to last approximately six weeks and will begin with jury selection. transactions to be televised, but all of this assures that they will become a public show. Both sides are expected to testify. In addition, Ms. Heard’s list of potential witnesses includes several celebrities, including Elon Musk and James Franco, and the evidence the two parties plan to bring forward includes text messages between the couple, medical records, and surveillance footage from Los Angeles. . lived together.

(Ms. Heard exchanged text with Mr Musk about her marriage, which was used as evidence in the British case, and said that at this hearing, she saw the bruises on Mr Franco’s face after a controversial argument.)

There are also heavy legal questions at play, as jurors will be asked to examine not only Mr Depp’s claim, but also the issues raised in a counterclaim Ms Heard filed in 2020. He accused Mr. Depp, through his former lawyer, of defaming him, speaking to the media saying Ms. Heard’s allegations of harassment were a hoax.

The essay is one of the most high-profile examples. The defamation lawsuits stemming from the #MeToo eraand lawyers around the country are watching closely.

Jamie R. Abrams, professor of law at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, written about them Lawyers on both sides said it was one of a series of cases where the case ultimately became a case over the truth of what happened, as they sought to prove that their clients couldn’t be defamed if they spoke honestly.

“I think legislators, lawyers and academics are watching this case and its parallels to see where the law will lead after such a period of turbulence,” he said.

Another important question is how the British case will be affected.

A judge in London wrote in 2020 that there was “overwhelming evidence” that Mr Depp had repeatedly assaulted Ms Heard during their marriage, and that Mr Depp had “feared for her life”.

Ms. Heard’s lawyers tried to persuade the Virginia judge to adopt her British counterpart’s findings, arguing that the core question in both cases was the same: whether Mr. Depp had abused Ms. Heard. Judge Penney S. Azcarate wrote in his decision that Ms. Heard was not a defendant in the British case – a British newspaper calling Mr. Depp “the wife beater” – and Mr Depp refused to do so. access to a jury trial there.

Lee Berlik, a defamation attorney in Virginia, said judges often exclude previous cases like this from the evidence a jury is allowed to consider, and even restrict mention of such background so that the jury is not unfairly affected. However, Ms. Heard’s lawyers may argue that these matters pertain to her case and should therefore be shared with the jury.

“Naturally, Amber Heard will want to do everything in her power to make the jury aware of this because Johnny Depp has lost,” said Mr. Berlik, referring to the libel trial in London. “Conversely, Johnny Depp will want to do everything he can to make sure it’s not mentioned.”

Lawyers for Mr Depp and Ms Heard declined to comment on details of how the British case would be handled in the American case.

The former couple met when Mrs. Heard starred as Mr. Depp’s girlfriend in the 2011 movie “The Rum Diary,” and they got married in 2015. The following year, a court in California granted a temporary domestic violence ban against Ms. Heard. Mr Depp, after his 30th birthday alleging “emotional, verbal and physical abuse” in a petition to the court, detailing a recent incident in which Mr Depp said he violently pushed him to the ground and threw a champagne bottle against the wall, and at another party, another party where he says he threw a cell phone at him and slapped him in the face.

In court documents, Mr. Depp denied Ms. Heard’s account of the events, accusing him of repeatedly punching her in the face after she was late for her birthday dinner, and accusing her of pretending to have a bruise to get the restraining order. eventually withdrew. (As her lawyers wrote in court documents, Ms. Heard denied her request for a longer restraining order as part of the divorce settlement.)

After the couple divorced, the Washington Post published Ms. Heard’s column, but the newspaper was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The title of the article posted online was: “I spoke out against sexual violence and faced the wrath of our culture.”

The Op-ed read, “A movie I hooked up to to reshape my role.” “I shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand and the company let me go. Questions arose about whether I could keep the role of Mera in the movies.Justice League‘ and ‘water man.’”

While it publicly listed the harm he said he suffered, the article did not detail Mr Depp’s allegations of abuse he said he suffered at his hands.

The article described Ms. Heard as: ambassador She spoke about women’s rights in the American Civil Liberties Union and said in court documents that the ACLU, whose executive director, Anthony Romero, was also listed as a potential witness in the case, recommended that Ms Heard write and present the article. Newspaper.

Mr Depp alleges in the lawsuit that the damage to his career and reputation after the article was published was “rapid and serious”. Days later, Disney approved In Mr Depp’s case, he would not return to one of his most important movie roles as Captain Jack Sparrow in a possible “Pirates of the Caribbean” reboot.

“Immediately following Ms. Heard’s false and defamatory article, I was denied the opportunity to play that role again,” the lawsuit said.





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