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Johnny Depp Granted Permission to Proceed with $50 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Amber Heard

Johnny Depp Granted Permission to Proceed with $50 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Amber Heard

A judge has granted Johnny Depp permission to move forward with his lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.

The 58-year-old actor first filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against the 35-year-old actress back in 2018 after she published an op-ed in the Washington Post where she wrote about surviving domestic abuse. Amber never specifically named Johnny in the op-ed, but has accused him of domestic violence since their split.

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On Tuesday (August 17), a Virginia judge allowed Johnny continue with his lawsuit, denying Amber‘s plea to dismiss the case after Johnny lost his U.K. libel suit against The Sun, People reports.

If you forgot, Johnny tried to sue The Sun newspaper for branding him as a “wife beater” for allegedly attacking Amber during their marriage from 2015 to 2017. In November 2020, Johnny lost the lawsuit.

“[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,” Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate wrote in her ruling on Tuesday. “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.”

The judge also added that “the libel laws of Virginia are starkly different than those of England. The Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution represent major departures from the English Common Law with respect to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”

Amid all of Johnny‘s legal issues, he recently spoke out, saying that he is being boycotted by Hollywood.

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Posted to: Amber Heard, Johnny Depp