Agree. I suspect Depp will lose. That's not to say I think he was abusive and I really do hope he wins. But I think it's an uphill struggle for him. Heard only has to convince the jury that one instance of physical, verbal or other abuse happened and she wins. I noticed her lawyers managed to get one of Depp's witnesses to agree "yes" when asked "So do you agree that they were both being verbally abusive to each other during that argument?". It was a bit of a trap because I don't think the witness meant to agree to what he agreed to, probably thinking it was just the sort of "verbal abuse" two people throw at each other when arguing. It's not about whether Heard was abusive, it's about convincing the jury that Depp misbehaved on one occasion.
But... I think Depp knows that. I honestly believe he expects to probably lose. But this was his only way to get the full story out and get public opinion back on his side whatever the result of the case. Even if his career remains in tatters (and it probably won't), he has got revenge on Heard and will have seriously hurt her future career and relationships by exposing her.
But I still hold out a tiny bit of hope he will win
Yeah, the courts don't care which one is the bigger *******, AH just needs to show there was one instance of abuse, which I'm sure she'll be able to. Despite what people seem to think in their media sensationalism, AH's lawyers have been focused on the task, which is to make sure this case goes nowhere in court.
For JD it's about winning the public opinion and getting his career back on track. But him managing to wreck AH's career is great to see
That was done yesterday when a financial analyst was on the stand, he detailed with evidence what JD had lost during that period, think it was 40 million dollars in total when the divorce took place and AH issued a restraining order, along with the op-ed in 2018 JD effectively got cancelled, his only project after that was a low budget independant film, he hasn't had any studio work since. That film was only released early this year in the US and was ranked 3rd at the Oscars for some categories. It was another of JD's greats but due to the shadow cast on him by these allegations never got the press or promotion it deserved.
The film in question is Minamata and I personally thought it was great. Vastly different to what he had previously done.
Yep, approx $40m. He had an accountant and a Hollywood transactional laywer confirm that.
To my knowledge the standard is much higher than this. Just quoting how much money he lost after the divorce and related events isn't good enough, there will have to be a specific claim that AH made that caused JD's losses, and they then have to prove that claim was false. So first a causal relationship between a specific claim and financial loss, and then showing that claim was false.
Also AH doesn't issue restraining orders (individuals can't do that), the courts do (on AH's request). If the restraining order is the cause of his losses, he needs to show that it was issued incorrectly, given that he couldn't overturn it I don't expect this to happen.
For damages about his cancellations, he needs to bring people who cancelled him on the stage who will then need to say why they cancelled him, and if the cause was anything specific that AH said then JD must show it was false. As JD's big cancellations came after he lost the case against The Sun in the UK, e.g. Fantastic Beasts, then WB would cite that their cancellations was the result of the UK court ruling, so his case would be against the UK court rather than AH.
Based on what I understand from these cases, this is a pretty much legally unwinnable case. And JD knows this. The bulk of his strategy is about winning the court of public opinion and getting his career back on track.
If JD wins this $40m, this will be the largest defamation winnings in US history. These cases are notoriously difficult to win.
