A Circuit Court judge in Fairfax County, Virginia dismissed Amber Heard's appeal to dismiss the $50 million libel case, and thus Johnny Depp has won the right to sue her.
The lawsuit in Virginia stems from a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard discussed surviving domestic abuse, albeit she did not mention her ex-husband. Depp's claim, which was filed in Fairfax County, accuses Heard of fabricating a domestic abuse survivor "hoax" for the 2018 piece.
Heard had asked for the libel complaint against her, filed in March 2019, to be dismissed, stating that the judgment in the UK case should help her win any subsequent lawsuits because they both involve libel allegations related to accusations of domestic abuse against Depp.
Judge Penney Azcarate, however, decided that The Sun and Heard's assertions were "inherently different" and not in privity, especially given that "the libel laws of Virginia are starkly different than those of England."
"The Sun's interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false. Defendant's interests relate to whether the statements she published were false," the ruling reads.
According to the court, Depp filed the defamation claim against News Group Newspapers, The Sun's publisher, before Heard's op-ed was published, and she was not mentioned in the complaint against the UK newspaper.
"Defendant's [Heard's] Supplemental Plea in Bar is overruled," the judge wrote, noting, however, that Depp's request for sanctions against Heard's motion would not be granted either. "Based on this opinion ... Defendant's Grounds of Defense is hereby stricken as moot."
In the abovementioned article published in December 2018, Heard stated that she "became a public figure representing domestic abuse," and that she faced the "full force of our culture's wrath" toward women who speak about it.
American actress Amber Heard with lawyer Jennifer Robinson
© AP Photo / Alastair Grant
Following a three-week trial in July 2020, the UK's High Court eventually ruled against Depp in early November, deciding that claims that he was a "wife-beater" were "substantially true." Back then, the court decided that Depp assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and left her in "fear of her life" three times while on drink and drug binges, which she claimed converted the actor into a "monster."
Depp's legal team had requested two Court of Appeal judges to allow him to appeal the ruling in the hopes of having the decision overturned and a new trial ordered, pointing to "new proof" that Heard had never spent her $7 million settlement on charity, although the news of her charity had, in their opinion, influenced the judge's decision.
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal concluded that it had no bearing on the judge's decision, and that he would have come to the same conclusion about Heard being a victim of domestic violence.
Following the High Court decision, Depp lost his position in the Disney movie franchise Fantastic Beasts, and the harm to his reputation puts him at risk of losing future job opportunities.