Johnny Depp’s two-year-old defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard will not be dismissed, a Virginia judge ruled Tuesday, meaning the case is set to proceed to a trial next year.
Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate rejected Heard’s motion to dismiss the case – Heard’s third such motion since Depp filed his lawsuit in March 2019 – on various grounds set out in an opinion obtained by USA TODAY.
Heard tried to get the Virginia lawsuit thrown out citing the ruling of a London judge last year in a libel lawsuit Depp filed against the publisher of The Sun tabloid and subsequently lost following a contentious legal showdown in an English courtroom.
The London judge concluded that the 2018 article branding Depp a “wife beater” was not libelous and that “the great majority” of Heard’s claims of domestic abuse “could be proved to the civil standard.”
But Virginia’s Judge Azcarate concluded that the two cases were not the same – Heard was not a party in the London lawsuit, although she was a witness for The Sun – and thus her argument for dismissal failed under well-established legal precedents governing when civil cases can be dismissed.
“Defendant’s claim that refusing to recognize the U.K. Judgment in this case would set a dangerous precedent is unfounded,” Azcarate said in her opinion. “If anything, upholding English libel judgments in the United States would create the chilling effect and could create a dangerous precedent. Accordingly, this Court is unpersuaded by Defendant’s argument.”
The decision marks a major victory for the actor in his ongoing warfare with his ex, which began in 2016 during their divorce in California and has now outlasted their brief, tumultuous marriage.
“Mr. Depp is most gratified by the Court’s decision,” said Depp’s lawyer, Benjamin Chew of Brown Rudnick in Washington D.C.
USA TODAY reached out to Heard’s Virginia lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft.
The case is scheduled for trial on April 11, 2022 in Fairfax County, Virginia’s largest and most populous county located in suburban Washington, D.C. Both sides will resume discovery proceedings, such as taking depositions, including Heard’s.
The Virginia case arises out of an opinion article Heard wrote in the Washington Post (which is printed in Virginia) in December 2018 in which Heard claimed she had become a public face of domestic abuse. She lamented that she “felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out” in the piece.
A few months later, Depp filed his lawsuit, seeking $50 million in damages. He depicted himself as a victim of “false” allegations, “part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity” for Heard to advance her career, according to his suit.
“Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse; she is a perpetrator,” the suit says.
Heard never mentioned the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star by name in her essay but it was clear who and what she was talking about, according to Depp’s lawsuit.
Her article followed the couple’s poisonous 2016 divorce proceedings, during which Heard alleged domestic abuse, filed for a restraining order against Depp and claimed he had thrown a cellphone at her face during a dustup at their downtown Los Angeles loft.
Depp vehemently denied all her allegations and the Los Angeles police who went to their loft the night of the alleged abuse said they found no evidence of a crime when they arrived.
By the end of the summer the two had reached an out-of-court settlement and issued an effusive joint statement professing their love.
“Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,” read the statement, obtained by USA TODAY. “Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity.”
For the past two years, Heard’s multiple legal teams have been trying to get Depp’s Virginia lawsuit dismissed, thus far with no success. Meanwhile, the two movie stars were the star witnesses in Depp’s libel lawsuit in London, which concluded in June 2020 after three-week circus-like trial.
In the wake of that case, Depp was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise.
This week, in his first interview since that loss, Depp told The Sunday Times in London that he’s being boycotted by Hollywood, alluded to the “surreal five years” surrounding the case, and spoke about the film industry fall-out on his once-formidable career.
Heard, meanwhile, has since become a single mother, announcing on Instagram that she quietly welcomed a baby girl, Oonagh Paige Heard, on her “own terms” earlier this year.
Depp recently won another victory in his defamation suit, when a New York judge partially granted a petition to determine if Heard donated the entirety of her $7 million divorce settlement to the American Civil Liberties Union and to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, as she had pledged.
As a result of that ruling last month, the ACLU must release documents that confirm whether or not Heard followed through on the donation promise, which has become a point of contention in the Virginia case.
