Judge rejects Depp bid to dismiss Heard counter-suit as Kate Moss set to testify | US news

The judge in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation demo has rejected an energy by Depp’s attorneys to dismiss Heard’s $100m counter-suit towards the actor, a day prior to the British supermodel Kate Moss is anticipated to testify followed by a last return of Depp to the stand.

Depp’s lawyers, who are rebutting right after Heard’s legal professionals rested their circumstance on Monday, experienced argued that Listened to failed to confirm any “actual malice” experienced happened when Depp’s previous PR human being Adam Waldman told the Day by day Mail she experienced created an “abuse hoax”.

But Penney Azcarate, the judge in Fairfax county, Virginia, rebuffed Depp’s movement to reject Heard’s declare outright, saying there was “more than a scintilla of evidence” that Waldman could have been knowingly creating statements that have been “false, or with a reckless disregard for their truth”.

Azcarate reported she was not weighing in on the proof, but merely no matter if every side experienced met its threshold for their case to keep on.

Depp’s attorneys also named a witness to challenge the idea that Depp was bodily abusive to Read: the surgeon David Kulber, who operated on Depp’s injured finger. Questioned if Depp could have grabbed somebody with a splint on the finger, Kulber explained Depp “could attempt to grab another person. But I don’t know how prosperous he would be.”

Outside the house the central concern of domestic abuse, a lot of the dueling defamation trial – now in its sixth and last 7 days – has targeted on accusations that Depp and Heard every single shed earnings as a result of the respective accusations towards them.

Tuesday’s testimony targeted on Heard’s promises that she misplaced $45m to $50m in extra earnings. A day before, a witness for the actor stated Listened to had not viewed salary jumps appreciated by other actors of her generation, this sort of as Zendaya, Gal Gadot and Ana de Armas. Past 7 days, Heard’s agent Jessica Kovacevic testified that she thought a decision to cut down Heard’s part in the Aquaman movie sequel was simply because of detrimental push and reputational injury.

On Tuesday, Walter Hamada, the president of DC-dependent movie manufacturing at Warner Bros, the studio that tends to make the Aquaman films, disputed that assertion, testifying that Heard’s deal was not renegotiated because of unfavorable statements built by Depp or his press agents, as Listened to alleges, but for the reason that of her functionality.

In an unusually frank exchange for a Hollywood studio executive, Hamada explained the studio had issues more than no matter if Read was the appropriate suit for the sequels, and that there had been conversations about casting a further actor mainly because of Heard’s deficiency of chemistry with Jason Momoa, who performs Aquaman.

“You know it when you see it, and the chemistry just was not there,” Hamada stated.

Richard Marks, the veteran Hollywood law firm and Depp witness whose change of phrase have been a single of the highlights of the demo – “My job is to get to yes,” he stated in earlier testimony about his purpose of a dealmaker – that Heard’s earnings from $1m for Aquaman to $2m for Aquaman 2 ended up typical to the industry.

Marks acknowledged that exterior of Aquaman, and an 8-episode sequence at $200,000 an episode, Heard had not been flooded with movie presents or endorsement specials. “The ‘star-is-born’ phenomenon didn’t transpire,” he explained. “This is a company of personalities. We did not see endorsement offers flocking to Ms Read.”

But he turned down Heard’s attorneys’ claim that Depp’s press agent “hoax” claims had been “the stake via the coronary heart of the star-is-born moment”.

Listened to witness Kathryn Arnold experienced mentioned that Momoa experienced the prospect to renegotiate his salary for the sequel from $3m to $15m, even though Heard’s increase was not renegotiated beyond the phrases of her choice settlement.

In an additional flourish, Marks said Arnold’s comparisons to other actors’ earnings ended up “not well worth the paper they’re not penned on”.

All eyes will now convert to Wednesday’s video clip testimony from Moss, who dated Depp from 1994 until finally 1997 and will reportedly testify that Depp “caught her and tended to her” after she slipped, carrying flip-flops, and fell down some methods while the then pair ended up in Jamaica.

The supermodel was invited to testify following Heard explained she hit Depp to defend her sister Whitney Henriquez during a dispute in the couple’s penthouse. Heard testified that Henriquez was standing in the vicinity of a staircase, and right away thought about rumors that Depp had pushed Moss down a flight of methods.

“[Whitney’s] back again was to the staircase, and Johnny swings at her,” Heard testified. “I don’t be reluctant, I do not hold out – I just, in my head, right away believe of Kate Moss and stairs … And I swung at him.”

Depp’s legal group were being seen celebrating the point out of Moss, which gave them an possibility to simply call her as an impeachment witness.

Likely to occur up when lawyers issue Moss is a story Depp as soon as instructed about conversing to Hunter S Thompson, the journalist and a hero of Depp’s. In a 1998 Rolling Stone short article, Depp was quoted as indicating: “I was with Kate, and I feel he [Thompson] went straight for the romance jugular, shit like whether I beat her sufficient. I likely advised him, ‘Yeah, she receives a significant beating.’”

The trial proceeds.