Just under a month before the long-awaited lawsuit in Johnny Depp’s multimillion-dollar harassment claim against Amber Heard is slated to begin, the star Pirates of the Caribbean actor suffered a setback in his attempts to stymie his ex-wife’s defense and $100 million court case.
In a brief session, Virginia Judge Penney Azcarate denied Johnny Depp’s summary judgment petition, saying the Aquaman star could, in fact, use the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.
Even as today’s decision does not grant Amber Heard protection for what she stated in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that sparked the feud between both the former couples and Rum Diary co-stars, this does imply that her lawyers will be able to argue in front of the court that she is befitting of such immunity — undermining a large part of Johnny Depp’s defense case heading into the April 11 trial.
The tragedy is that today’s decision not only strengthens Amber Heard’s defense and countersuit against Johnny Depp and his lawyers for defamation but also that the litigious Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard and the Jeff Bezos-owned Post in Virginia because of the state’s less lenient anti-SLAPP rule. The state tightened that statute in part as a result of the $50 million lawsuits Johnny Depp filed in March 2019. Now, Virginia’s anti-SLAPP law assures that utterances regarding topics of significant concern that would be covered under the First Amendment are immune from civil liability.
The Washington Post has been dropped as a defendant in this action for quite some time. Unlike Johnny Depp’s previous attempt to get out of Amber Heard‘s 2020 countersuit, Azcarate argued on Thursday that Amber Heard’s Post column about domestic abuse is a matter of public interest. This is crucial for the actress because it shifts the focus of the court battle.
Johnny Depp’s argument
Johnny Depp’s lawyers have argued that the defamation is personal and so not subject to the anti-SLAPP legislation (SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). It’s worth noting that Johnny Depp is never mentioned by name in Amber Heard’s op-ed.
Johnny Depp has argued that the story implicates him following a 2016 separation that included restraining orders, a $7 million compensation, and more. Johnny Depp’s spring 2019 lawsuit claimed the op-ed lost him a lucrative part in a future Disney reboot of the Pirates property, claiming “Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator.” Both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have had their fair share of ups and downs in the game.
Amber Heard’s attempts to get the case relocated to California and dismissed were unsuccessful, so she countersued Johnny Depp in September 2020. After failing his UK libel action against Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid, The Sun in November 2020 after labeling him a “wife abuser” (an appeal was granted in March 2021), Johnny Depp also lost his bid to have Amber Heard’s multimillion-dollar countersuit dismissed in January 2021.
