Johnny Depp Denied Retrial in Libel Case, Ex-Wife Amber Heard Responds
Johnny Depp has been denied a retrial for his libel case against The Sun and its publisher.
On Thursday (March 25), two Court of Appeal judges denied the actor's request for a retrial against The Sun's publishers, News Group Newspapers (NGN), after the media outlet labeled him a "wife beater" in a 2018 article.
Lord Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Dingemans agreed that Depp had a "full and fair" hearing the first time. They believe that the first judge "gave thorough reasons for his conclusions which have not been shown even arguably to be vitiated by any error of approach or mistake of law," the new ruling reads.
"We would accordingly dismiss both Mr. Depp’s application for permission to adduce further evidence and his application for permission to appeal," the Justices concluded.
"We are pleased — but by no means surprised — by the Court's denial of Mr. Depp’s application for appeal," Heard's spokesperson told Yahoo! Entertainment. "The evidence presented in the UK case was overwhelming and undeniable. To reiterate, the original verdict was that Mr. Depp committed domestic violence against Amber on no fewer than 12 occasions and she was left in fear of her life. The verdict and lengthy, well-reasoned Judgment, including the Confidential Judgment, have been affirmed. Mr. Depp's claim of new and important evidence was nothing more than a press strategy, and has been soundly rejected by the Court."
Depp's team asked for a retrial after it was revealed that Heard did not make her full promised donations to the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The News Group Newspapers used her charity as evidence that she could be not labeled a "gold digger."
During the original trial, Heard stated that she would be donating her divorce settlement of $7 million between the two charities. She has since only donated $100,000 to the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, though the promised about was $3.5 million.
Heard's attorney issued a statement to Deadline which explained that Heard intends to make her full promised donations but that she has been "forced to spend millions of dollars defending Mr. Depp’s false accusations against her.”