A Judge Has Dismissed Johnny Depp’s Request To Have Amber Heard’s Counter-Suit Dismissed

Back in September, Amber Heard filed a $100 million counter-suit to the lawsuit Johnny Depp had filed against her. Johnny is suing Amber for $50 million, accusing her of making up domestic abuse claims as a hoax to garner sympathy and ruin his reputation. Amber’s counter-suit accused Johnny of plotting to smear her name online, allegedly using numerous bots and anonymous social media profiles to talk shit about her and try to get her fired from upcoming projects. Johnny was hoping to have Amber’s counter-suit left behind in 2020, but a judge has turned down his request.

Johnny’s trial against Amber has been pushed back a whole bunch of times, due to COVID-19, but it’s scheduled to begin in Virginia on May 3rd, 2021. In 2018, Amber wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post, in which she claimed that she was punished for speaking up about domestic violence, like by losing jobs, or being on the receiving end of vile hate from strangers (despite not naming her abuser by name). The printing presses of The Washington Post are located in Virginia, so that’s why Johnny filed his lawsuit there.

Amber was counter-suing Johnny for the hate she was still receiving from speaking out. Johnny wanted her lawsuit thrown out on the basis of Virginia’s anti-SLAPP laws. Those were created to provide immunity for certain claims based on speech regarding public concern. Essentially, Johnny thought the anti-SLAPP laws could protect him from his own statements regarding Amber’s domestic violence “hoax” that might mess up his chances in court. According to documents filed on Monday, Fairfax County Judge Bruce White called bullshit on that tactic, saying that Johnny’s comments about Amber over the past few years have more than implied that she has been lying about her experience. via Deadline:

Depp and attorney Adam Waldman’s remarks in the media the past few years “imply that Ms. Heard lied and perjured herself when she appeared before a court in 2016 to obtain a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp,” White writes in his January 4 opinion.

“Moreover they imply that she lied about being a victim of domestic abuse. In light of the #MeToo Movement and today’s social climate, falsely claiming abuse would surely injure [Ms. Heard’s] reputation in the common estimation of mankind. Therefore, this Court finds that the statements contain the requisite ‘sting’ for an actionable defamation claim.”

Essentially, Johnny’s request to have Amber’s counter-suit thrown out would imply that a judge also believes Amber has been lying about her experience. Judge White believes she should be allowed to present her experience in court and let a jury decide what’s up. It’s probably not made any better by the fact that just two months ago, a jury decided The Sun could legally refer to Johnny as a “wife beater,” although he’s currently fighting to have that re-tried.

However, lest you think Judge White is a big Aquaman fan or something, he also turned down Amber’s attempt to claim that Johnny was creating social media bots to taint her name. Amber was reportedly working off some information from the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, and Judge White responded that she failed to prove that Johnny was some kind of bot mastermind. To be fair, Johnny does look like the type of guy who would render all his home computers non-operational, after breaking them open and pulling out the metal parts to make some weird outsider art jewelry.

To make an already bad week even worse for Johnny, TMZ is saying that a woman was caught allegedly breaking into his home in the Hollywood Hills. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that Johnny’s mansion was almost burgled over the weekend. A woman broke in, which tripped the home’s alarm system. Cops arrived, but she had already left by the time they got there. But, she was caught a few doors down, and has allegedly been linked to another break-in in the area.

It’s not known if she took anything with her when she left or what kind of damage she might have caused. But I bet it was a real shock for the police that showed up on the scene. Just dozens and dozens of dirty scarves, scattered everywhere. A living room that looked like a giant raccoon had been sleeping in it. And it was probably an even bigger shock when they learned that Johnny’s house was like that before the break-in happened.

Pics: Wenn.com