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Johnny Depp has been denied permission to appeal a U.K. judge’s ruling in a defamation trial that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard.
A British court on Thursday said the star could not challenge the High Court’s rejection of his libel lawsuit against publisher of The Sun newspaper for labeling him a “wife beater” in an article.
High Court Justice Andrew Nicol ruled in November that allegations against Depp, made in the article, were “substantially true.” The judge ruled that Depp had assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in fear for her life three times.
The same judge later in November refused to allow the star to appeal the decision, saying: “I do not consider that the proposed grounds of appeal have a reasonable prospect of success.” But he gave Depp until Dec. 7 to make a direct application to the court of appeal.
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Depp in a statement after the ruling said: “The surreal judgment of the court in the U.K. will not change my fight to tell the truth, and I confirm that I plan to appeal.”
Depp then filed an application with the U.K. court of appeal, citing a list of pending appeals.
Depp’s lawyers argued at a court hearing last week that the actor hadn’t received a fair hearing, accusing Heard of being an unreliable witness. As part of their evidence, they claimed that Heard hadn’t kept her promise to donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity.
“The evidence presented at last week’s hearing (the appeal of Mr. Depp vs. News Group Newspapers LTD) further demonstrates that there are clear and objective reasons to seriously question the decision reached in the U.K. court,” Joelle Rich of Schillings Partners said in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter following Thursday’s decision to reject the permission to appeal. “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.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in Virginia over a Washington Post op-ed essay that she wrote about domestic violence. The trial in that case was recently delayed until April 2022.
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