A British courtroom on Thursday refused Johnny Depp permission to attraction a choose’s ruling that he assaulted ex-wife Amber Heard, saying his try to overturn the choice had “no real prospect of success.”
Two Court of Appeal judges stated the Hollywood star can’t problem the High Court’s rejection of his libel lawsuit towards the writer of The Sun newspaper for labelling him a “wife beater” in an article.
The justices, James Dingemans and Nicholas Underhill, stated the sooner courtroom listening to was “full and fair” and the trial choose’s conclusions “have not been shown even arguably to be vitiated by any error of approach or mistake of law.”
They concluded that “the appeal has no real prospect of success and that there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard.”
High Court Justice Andrew Nicol dominated in November that allegations towards Depp, made in a April 2018 article, had been “substantially true.” The choose dominated that Depp, 57, assaulted Heard, 34, on a dozen events and put her in worry for her life 3 times.
Lawyers for Depp argued at a courtroom listening to final week that Depp hadn’t acquired a good listening to and that Heard was an unreliable witness. As proof of her unreliability, they claimed that Heard hadn’t saved her promise to donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity.
The appeals judges stated it was “pure speculation, and in our view very unlikely” that the destiny of the divorce cash influenced choose Nicol’s choice.
“It is clear from a reading of the judgment as a whole that the judge based his conclusions on each of the incidents on his extremely detailed review of the evidence specific to each incident,” they stated.
“In an approach of that kind there was little need or room for the judge to give weight to any general assessment of Ms. Heard’s credibility.”
Depp and Heard met on the set of the 2011 comedy The Rum Diary and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard, a mannequin and actress, filed for divorce the next yr and obtained a restraining order towards Depp on the grounds of home abuse. The divorce was finalized in 2017.
The High Court ruling got here after a headline-grabbing three-week trial in July, during which Depp and Heard gave conflicting accounts of their transient, tempestuous marriage, with every accusing the opposite of being controlling, violent and deceitful.
During the trial Depp acknowledged wide-ranging drug issues, however accused Heard of constructing up abuse allegations and insisted he was “not a violent person, especially with women.”
Heard’s public relations agency stated in a press release that she was “pleased – but by no means surprised” by the Court of Appeal choice.
“Mr Depp’s claim of new and important evidence was nothing more than a press strategy, and has been soundly rejected by the court,” the assertion stated.
Jeffrey Smele of legislation agency Simons Muirhead and Burton, which represented The Sun’s writer News Group Newspapers, stated Thursday’s ruling was “a victory for the freedom of the press and for victims of domestic violence everywhere.”
Depp’s attorneys have stated that the allegations in The Sun triggered “serious harm” to the actor’s repute and “significant distress and embarrassment.” In the wake of the November courtroom ruling, Depp stated he was leaving the Fantastic Beasts movie franchise after studio Warner Bros. requested his resignation.
Depp can be suing Heard for $50 million in Virginia over a Washington Post op-ed essay that she wrote about home violence. The trial, in that case, was not too long ago delayed till April 2022.
Depp’s British lawyer, Joelle Rich of Schillings Partners, stated “there are clear and objective reasons to seriously question the decision reached in the U.K. court.”
“Mr Depp looks forward to presenting the complete, irrefutable evidence of the truth in the U.S. libel case against Ms. Heard where she will have to provide full disclosure,” Rich stated.
