Johnny Depp's defamation case hearing against Amber Heard delayed again
The defamation case slapped by Johnny Depp against Amber Heard got a new date. The court of Virginia has set April 11, 2022 for its next hearing. Notably, the court date has been changed multiple times in this case. It was initially set for May 2020, after which it got shifted to January 2021. COVID-19 pushed it further to May, 2021 and now this.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White finalized the next date of this high-profile trial, which will reportedly last around two weeks. The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing his ex-wife for $50mn for allegedly defaming him in a Washington Post 2018 op-ed, where she claimed to be a domestic abuse victim. Heard is reportedly counter-suing Depp for double the amount.
The ensuing Depp-Heard battle has blown out in such a manner that Virginia lawmakers have passed a law in February 2020 over Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). As a result of this, Heard can't pursue a declaratory judgment of making her immune against comments made in the op-ed she wrote, as doing that would duplicate her defense against Depp's US defamation suit.
Clearly, Depp isn't backing off from his libel case defeat, in which a high court judge found the "wife-beater" claim by tabloid The Sun "substantially true." This March, the Court of Appeal will consider Depp's move against Justice Nicol's judgment after the star filed documents terming the ruling "manifestly unsafe." He had a December 7 deadline to appeal directly to the Court of Appeal.
Outside the legal front, the 57-year-old Academy Award nominee is planning to sell his 19th-century Provençal village estate, 27 kilometres from Saint-Tropez for $55.5 million. He had bought it in 2001 when he was at the prime of his career with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Heard, meanwhile, is dating cinematographer Bianca Butti, and the two were spotted at LA International Airport recently.
