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John C. Depp, II v. Amber Laura Heard (CL-2019-2911) is a defamation trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States that began in April 2022.

Background

Depp and Heard’s relationship

Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard began a relationship in around 2012 and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard filed for divorce from Depp on 23 May 2016, and obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against him, stating in her court declaration that he had been "verbally and physically abusive" throughout their relationship, usually while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In response, Depp alleged that she was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse." Heard testified about the abuse under oath at a divorce court deposition. The divorce received a large amount of publicity, with alleged evidence, such as images of Heard's injuries, published by the media. A settlement was reached in August 2016, and the divorce was finalised in January 2017. Depp and Heard issued a joint statement saying that their "relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm." Depp paid Heard a settlement of US$7 million (£5 million), which she pledged to donate to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The settlement also included a non-disclosure agreement preventing either party from discussing their relationship publicly.

Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd

In June 2018, Depp sued News Group Newspapers, the company publishing the UK tabloid The Sun, and its editor Dan Wootton for libel. The suit had to do with an article published by the tabloid in April 2018, where they had called him a wife beater and questioned author J. K. Rowling’s approval of Depp being cast in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, based on her books. He claimed that the aim of The Sun had been to convince their readers that he was a domestic abuser and to plea Rowling to drop him from the Fantastic Beasts film. Depp alleged that Heard had instead been the aggressor in the relationship and had lied about being abused as part of a hoax. In their defence, NGN and Wootton argued that the articles reported the truth and that Depp had been abusive to Heard throughout their relationship, particularly when he was intoxicated. They presented 14 separate incidents on which they alleged that Depp had been violent towards Heard. Both Depp and Heard testified in person in the trial at the High Court in London in July 2020.

On 2 November 2020, Mr Justice Nicol found that the assaults were proven to the civil standard in 12 of the 14 incidents reported by NGN, and this with the overarching considerations was sufficient to show that The Sun's article was substantially accurate on the balance of probabilities. The verdict found that while Depp had been successful in proving that the articles had been damaging to his reputation, his claim of libel had failed as the articles had been "substantially true". The court found no evidence to support Depp's claim of a hoax, stating that "if Ms Heard had been constructing a hoax there are various measures which she might have taken, but which she did not". The court accepted Heard's claim that her career and activism had been seriously damaged by going public about the abuse. The 129-page verdict examined all 14 alleged incidents, both alone and in context of the entirety of the evidence presented. Four days after the verdict, Depp stepped down from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts film series at the request of Warner Bros., its production company. Depp appealed the verdict but the Court of Appeal rejected his application in March 2021.

Depp’s defamation suit against Heard

In February 2019, Depp sued Heard over an op-ed she wrote about her experience of being a public victim of domestic violence, which was published by The Washington Post in December 2018. Depp also again alleged that Heard had been the abuser, and that her allegations constituted a hoax against him. In August 2020, Heard countersued Depp, alleging that he had coordinated "a harassment campaign via Twitter and orchestrating online petitions in an effort to get her fired from Aquaman and L'Oréal".

Pre-trial developments

In October 2020, the judge in the case dismissed Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman after he leaked confidential information covered by a protective order to the media. Following the verdict in Depp's lawsuit against The Sun the following month, Heard's lawyers filed to have the defamation suit dismissed, but judge Penny Azcarate ruled against it because Heard had been a witness, not a defendant in the UK case. In August 2021, a New York judge ruled that the ACLU must disclose documents related to Heard's charity pledge to the organization.

Trial

The trial began in Fairfax County, Virginia on April 11, 2022, with jury selection.

Testimony

Depp and Heard's former couples therapist, Dr Laurel Anderson, who saw them in 2015, testified her opinion that the duo engaged in "mutual abuse". Both Depp and Heard had been previously beaten by a parent, Anderson said. Depp was "well controlled" over decades and was not violent against previous partners, but was "triggered" with Heard, testified Anderson. For Heard, it "was a point of pride to her, if she felt disrespected, to initiate a fight ... If he was going to leave her to de-escalate from the fight, she would strike him to keep him there", said Anderson.

References

1. "Depp v. Heard trial information - Order Re: Courtroom & Media" (PDF). Circuit Court of Fairfax County. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
2. ^ Wolfe, Jan (April 12, 2022). "Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard face off again in U.S. libel trial". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
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19. "CLAIMANT'S SKELETON ARGUMENT FOR TRIAL: 7 JULY - 27 JULY 2020". High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division). 2020. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
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26. "Sun defence in Johnny Depp libel trial relies on 14 allegations of domestic violence denied by actor". Press Gazette. 8 July 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
27. "DEFENDANTS' OPENING STATEMENT FOR TRIAL 7 – 27 JULY 2020". High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division). 2020. pp. 1–12. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
28. "SKELETON ARGUMENT ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENDANTS For Trial, 7 – 27 July 2020". High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division). 2020. pp. 1–12. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
29. Depp v NGN & Wootton (2020), paras. 84-94
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41. Griffith, Janelle (March 4, 2019). "Johnny Depp sues ex-wife Amber Heard for $50 million for allegedly defaming him". NBC News. New York City. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2019. Heard did not name Depp in the op-ed that focused on the risks to women in speaking up about domestic abuse and sexual violence. She writes that she was exposed to abuse when she was 'very young' and was 'harassed and sexually assaulted by the time' she was of college age. But the lawsuit filed Friday in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia, alleges that although the piece did not name Depp, it was implicitly about him.
42. ^ Nyren, Erin (March 2, 2019). "Johnny Depp Reportedly Sues Amber Heard for $50M Over Washington Post Op-Ed". Variety. Los Angeles, California. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2019. 'The op-ed depended on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her,' Depp's lawyers allege. ... 'This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depp's repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard,' said Heard's attorney. Cite error: The named reference "varietymarch2019" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
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48. Hennessy, Joan (December 28, 2021). "Lawyer for Johnny Depp Kicked Off Case After Press Leaks". Court House News. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
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53. Finley, Ben (April 14, 2022). "Therapist: Depp and Heard had relationship of 'mutual abuse'". Associated Press. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

• 2022 in American law
• Johnny Depp
• Violence against women in the United States