The Lawsuits Thread

[Judymac]

This Sun article is ridiculous. This makes them look even more foolish and hurts their credibility.

[Lbock]

THR has a good article for a change
Johnny Depp's Libel Trial Gets Postponed Because of Coronavirus

Adam Waldman, one of Depp's American lawyers, said in a statement, "Mr. Depp has spent years seeking justice. The Judge hearing Mr. Depp’s defamation case against the Sun raised safety and practicality concerns. Although the case is extremely important to Mr. Depp, he was also uneasy about putting anyone else in harm’s way for the sake of it. In contrast, the Sun tabloid failed to read their own newspaper accounts about current events, and exhibited their famous disdain for the British public. Ms. Heard’s tiny coterie of friends and family 'witnesses,' half of whom she sued to compel them to testify, also offered to appear by video link in a libel case for which the reporter Dan Wootton himself is too afraid to testify. Mr Depp will wait for courts and borders to safely reopen, and then we will do this properly.“

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-e ... us-1285620

[Granna]

According to AW's statement, "AH sued to compel individuals to testify,".

Who did she sue, does anyone know?

Just curious.

[Lbock]

According to AW's statement, "AH sued to compel individuals to testify,".

Who did she sue, does anyone know?

Just curious.

We know the Sun had the U.K. judge compel Laura D

[Lbock]

Good article shutting the Sun complaints down

Depp’s libel battle against The Sun postponed due to coronavirus
Tristan Kirk1 hour ago

Hollywood star Johnny Depp’s libel battle against The Sun newspaper has been postponed thanks to coronavirus as the actor is stuck in France and unable to fly to London.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star, 56, is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publishers of The Sun, and the newspaper's executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which referred to him as a "wife-beater".

Mr Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard are both due to give evidence during the High Court libel trial, with a string of other Hollywood stars and witnesses who live in California also expected to be heard.

However the fate of the case, due to start on Monday for a ten-day trial, was plunged into doubt this week by the worldwide spread of the Covid-19 virus.

This morning, Mr Justice Nicol was urged by The Sun’s lawyer Adam Wolanski QC to push ahead with the hearings, utilising video technology for witnesses to give their evidence from around the world.

Mr Wolanski suggested Mr Depp was a “coward” for seeking a delay, saying that Ms Heard is willing to fly to London on Monday from the US if the case was due to take place.

But the judge said a combination of travel restrictions thanks to coronavirus, limitation on videolink evidence, and the number of people set to attend including lawyers, journalists, and the public meant that he had to postpone.

“These are not ordinary times”, he said. “The UK along with many other jurisdictions are in the midst of a coronavirus epidemic.”

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Two of Mr Depp’s lawyers are already self-isolating, while the actor himself is currently in the south of France with his QC and may not be allowed to travel to the UK this weekend, the court heard.

In preliminary efforts to keep the case running, a video conferencing suite had been hired in California for witnesses to give evidence remotely. They would have been required to attend in the middle of the night to match with UK court sitting times.

Mr Wolanski told the court Ms Heard, 33, who is due to say that her ex-husband was abusive, was "prepared to move heaven and earth to make this trial happen and to come and give evidence".

He added: "She is currently in California, but despite all the travel problems that exist and despite the risks to her health of travelling, she has found a flight leaving Los Angeles today."

The judge said it is “desirable” for both of the warring former couple to be present in court for their evidence, to be properly questioned and shown documents, and he accepted Ms Heard’s desire to come to London.

But he said Mr Depp may be unable to travel thanks to a French “lockdown”.

“Mr Depp’s resources are no answer if French law prohibits his departure”, he said.

The judge added: “While technological aids can be extremely useful and hearing evidence by videolink can be and frequently is used, there are situations where the disadvantages are considerable.

“I don’t think it would lead to the fair disposal of this case if I heard the claimant or Ms Heard by that means.”

The court is due to sit again this afternoon to reschedule the trial.

Mr Depp and Ms Heard have been locked in a public war of words since the breakdown of their marriage in 2016 in acrimonious circumstances.

The actress has accused her ex-husband of being violent and abusive, but Mr Depp insists that he is the victim and she was the abuser.

In the latest message to be revealed this morning, Mr Wolanski read out a text from Mr Depp to talent agent Christian Carino in August 2016 where he said of Ms Heard: "She is begging for global humiliation. She is going to get it."

He described the actress as "gold-digging, low-level, dime-a-dozen, mushy, pointless", ending the message by saying: "Now I will stop at nothing."

Mr Wolanski accused Mr Depp of a “sustained campaign of vicious leaks and smears” as he argued for the trial to go ahead.

Jennifer Afia, for Mr Depp, said he also wants the trial to take place as soon as possible to “vindicate his reputation".

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/cele ... 93411.html

[justintime]

It is so gratifying to watch the UK courts doing everything possible to respect the needs of ALL involved and to ensure the long wait for due process and all its complexities in this particular case are properly addressed.

Perhaps now, as further observation of well-intentioned “judicial courtesy” in these two cases ( UK’s SUN and VA’s defamation suit) would appear to be an effort in futility given Mother Nature’s intervention, Justice White will rule on AH’s third dismissal request and deny the demurrer.

[Lbock]

Sometime in July. Guessing VA will delay or will have to rule on demurrer

[Lbock]

He added: "She is currently in California, but despite all the travel problems that exist and despite the risks to her health of travelling, she has found a flight leaving Los Angeles today."

So we’ve known about this trial date a long time now. Anyone wonder why she hadn’t already bought a ticket? Just saying. Hmmmm

[AdeleAgain]

JudyMac - thank you for the shout out - it is less anxiety and more frustration. I supposed for me this just represents the extent to which so many bad people, who are bullies and just plain nasty - seem to get away with things. I just feel that until there is a court judgement no decision will be made on her by L'Oreal and WB and she gets to walk around like nothing has happened. The bare faced cheek of what she says is incredible. Why wasn't her ticket already booked if she's so keen to be here?

I am not anxious because colourful though JD's language often is, he clearly writes from the heart and this says to me more than anything - if he had abused her - he would have poured this out in one of those texts.

All they have is a bunch of impassioned texts - not one of which ever found their way to her - so how can she have been harmed? If he had written anything threatening to her we would have heard about it long, long ago.

Whilst he has her own voice, along with everything else by way of actual evidence on his side. I was about to write - and yet four years on, here we still are. Except that's not true. The audio tapes have so damaged her - even with the biased, out of context reporting of the texts, the overwhelming majority are not on her side.

[Lbock]

[RumLover]

I assume that Amber did see Johnny's texts prior to May 2015.
She would look at his phone because that is just who she is. As Kate James stated it
"Amber would always be very jealous and paranoid about anyone who Johnny might be talking to. She would at times ask me to find out who someone was who had contacted him, after she’d been snooping on his phone."
So it seems plausible that Amber did see the texts to Paul Bettany but did not say anything to Johnny, she thought those texts and others would be useful as ammunition later.

[ForeverYoung]

The judge did the right thing, especially with what is going on in Italy right now. A lot of people in a courtroom is not a good idea at this time.

[Inquiring Minds]

It’s been a short while since I last posted. The news has been exploding with new material as the trial date has approached and I’ve mostly been reading updates from self-isolation, laughing out loud and eating popcorn

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works and all prudent parties are urging caution, a slight breather until things stabilise, then into it again. Amber of course (via her lawyers) has attempted to take a sanctimonious path, vowing to attend come hell or high water and has labelled Johnny a coward because he is in national lockdown in France. This is typical Amber imo and shows a reckless disregard for human life. And then there is the crass insincerity, knowing with fair certainty that the UK will either also be in lockdown or require that she be isolated on arrival anyway and that the courts will almost definitely be in recess. Wolanski walked into the court knowing they were going to postpone – like a small, toothless dog barking furiously through the fence at the larger, meaner dog outside (“Coward, I can take ya”).

But Amber must be dragging the bottom of the barrel with attorneys. I mean there’s Roberta “cut-off-his-finger-with-a-machete” Kaplan and now this Wolanski clown. But that’s quite derogatory toward clowns and all circus workers (having had two family members and a friend separately run away to join different circuses - and I once harboured a refugee from a notorious family of clowns and trapeze artists, but that’s another story).

Lets look at this recent Wolanski’s hypocrisy (via Lbok thanks):

<smear>
In the latest message to be revealed this morning, Mr Wolanski read out a text from Mr Depp to talent agent Christian Carino in August 2016 where he said of Ms Heard: "She is begging for global humiliation. She is going to get it."

He described the actress as "gold-digging, low-level, dime-a-dozen, mushy, pointless", ending the message by saying: "Now I will stop at nothing."
</smear>

Then he has the audacity to immediately follow his own smear of Johnny with:

Mr Wolanski accused Mr Depp of a “sustained campaign of vicious leaks and smears” as he argued for the trial to go ahead.

Not to mention the illegal recording of Laura D could only have come from Heard’s side.

Her side seems so divorced from reality they don’t even realise what they are saying, but Waldman has already pointed that out so eloquently. And to be fair to Johnny, he must have been at his wits end when he wrote:

gold-digging, low-level, dime-a-dozen, mushy, pointless

I’m sure a man of his talent, when not frustrated, exhausted and backed into a corner would have ended the phrase far better than with “mushy, pointless”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to hear Wolanski utter a truth about his client that we may not have otherwise heard. It may be accurate, but it lacks oomph. Leaving aside oblique references to kerbing, stormwater runoff and low-priced sex workers, I can still think of a few other words that may fit the bill: trailer trash; parasite; wannabe or; misandrist fraud? But I’m sure you all have your own favourites that would be equally appropriate

The recent outing of an Amber stan or paid provocateur does not surprise me. When catching up on this thread at the start I saw mention that Amber’s legal team dropped by sometimes and I just assumed her stans would too. Hence many of my (few) postings have contained an element of gloating or taunting. I hope to buoy Johnny’s supporters while at the same time instil a sense of impending dread and foreboding in the Amber drones – like the sound of tearing, shrieking metal - that sick, gut-wrenching feeling when you watch a slow train wreck unfold from inside, totally powerless to stop the world around you being ripped to shreds.

Muwhahaha!

[ForeverYoung]

How was she planning to go to London anyway when Donald Trump put a ban on travel to the UK?

[Inquiring Minds]

I would imagine if she was actually telling the truth (and we already know her record on that count), a flight probably would have been booked ahead but with all the flights cancelled, finding an available one as claimed does not seem unreasonable.

As I've previously stated though, I don't think she really had any intention of coming by the time she made her heroic offer to martyr herself to clear the name of all abused women across the world <barf>

She has already been sidestepping appearances whenever she can, I can only see the no-lose offer to get there as another vain ploy to garner public support.

And now it is revealed Victoria's secret is suing her. We all know Amber has bigger secrets, many of which are now coming to light.