Johnny Depp can continue his lawsuit against Amber Heard in the United States after court ruling
Johnny Depp's lawyers say the actor is "satisfied" after a judge refused to dismiss his libel suit against Amber Heard.
The actor is currently involved in a $ 50 million defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman star, whom he was married to from 2015 to 2017.
In April, Heard tried to get a judge to dismiss the case after Depp lost a libel suit in the UK against The Sun over a 2018 headline labeling him a "wife beater" in connection with his marriage to Heard.
Depp also lost an attempt to overturn the Superior Court ruling in March of this year.
However, on Tuesday, Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate refused to dismiss the case against Heard, as seen in legal documents obtained by Deadline.
"The court is not persuaded by the defendant's argument that the plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the UK action," he wrote, adding that "the defendant was not part of the UK action and was not treated as such ".
Judge Azcarate also said that the legal differences between freedom of expression in the United Kingdom and the United States were "untenable" in this setting, suggesting that Heard's insistence on the similarities between the two cases was "puzzling."
"The Sun's interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false," she wrote. "The interests of the accused are related to whether the statements she published were false."
Depp's attorney, Ben Chew, stated that the actor was "very satisfied with the court's decision."
The ruling comes days after Depp claimed Hollywood was boycotting him, as the United States remains the only country that has yet to release his new film, Minamata.
