Last year, Johnny Depp lost his libel case against the publisher of The Sun over an article that labelled him a "wife-beater".
Now, as per a report by People, a judge from Virginia over-ruled Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard's request to dismiss his $50 million defamation lawsuit against her.
Heard had requested for the UK case in her plea to have Depp's suit dismissed, arguing that the defamation case against her should carry weight in the US
However, the report states that the Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate disagreed and stated that one could easily distinguish between the evidence in each case. Judge Azcarate stated in her ruling, “[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. 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."
This is the second win for Johnny Depp. Previously, he had a ruling in his favour concerning the $7 million divorce settlement money that Heard had promised in donation to American Civil Liberties Union.
The Daily Mail states that Depp got his legal team to file paperwork in order to assure that the ALCU revealed that they the received the money since the actor was unsure if Heard had made the donation at all. The lawyers could only verify about $450,000 in donations. A judge ruled that the ACLU must release proof regarding the money Heard pledged.
The ALCU had claimed that it "would not be producing the documents and testimony concerning the Op-Ed without an agreement on confidentiality." Currently, Depp and his attorneys are bent on suing the New York based organisation. "The ACLU Witnesses' reticence to provide more information 'appears to be part of a collusive effort with Ms. Heard to prevent evidence showing that Ms. Heard perjured herself from becoming public," Depp's lawyers allege.
They continued: "Applying New York law, the Court should reject the ACLU Witnesses' outrageous stonewalling. Mr. Depp, accordingly, respectfully requests that this Court enter an order directing the ACLU Witnesses to fully comply with the Subpoenas." Reports state that Depp is actively pursuing this because the ACLU donation pledge was a significant factor in the UK defamation suit.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)