Johnny Depp’s libel lawsuit against British tabloid to receive verdict next week

Johnny Depp’s highly publicized libel case is nearing its final act.

A verdict will be given on Nov. 2 for the lawsuit filed by Depp against the publisher of British tabloid The Sun over an article accusing the actor of assaulting his then-wife, actress Amber Heard.

A hearing will not be held when judge Andrew Nicol provides his verdict in writing next week, Britain’s judicial office said Tuesday in its announcement.

The verdict comes three months after July’s headline-making three-week trial in London that saw Depp, 57, deny ever hitting a woman, and saw Heard accuse the actor of committing multiple violent acts.

The Sun’s April 2018 article at the center of the lawsuit painted Depp as a “wife-beater," and the newspaper’s defense in the libel case referenced 14 alleged incidents of violence by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star.

Depp named both News Group Newspapers, which publishes The Sun, and Dan Wootton, the executive editor of the tabloid, in his lawsuit.

He has contended that Heard, whom he was married to from 2015 to 2017, was the aggressor during their marriage, and said her claims against him have “been a constant issue in my casting" as he pursues acting jobs.

“These sick claims are totally untrue,” Depp asserted in a written statement in July, responding to Heard’s accusations.

The allegations made by Heard, who appeared in court in July but was not on trial herself, included claiming that Depp once hurled 30 bottles toward her, as if they were “grenades or bombs.”

“Johnny, when he was clean and sober, could be a wonderful person, generous, loving,” Heard said at the time. “He’s a remarkable man when he’s like that and I loved him. The other side of him was a monster but I always held out hope he would get clean and sober.”

Depp, who acknowledged his drug use, claimed Heard, 34, once slugged him with a “haymaker” punch and described an acrimonious marriage between them.

During the closing arguments of July’s trial, a lawyer for The Sun accused Depp of “overwhelming evidence of domestic violence or wife-beating behavior, cataloged over a three-year period.”

“Permeating all of the evidence in this case is the character of Mr. Depp himself — his well-documented evidence of violence and destruction over his adult life which have occurred when he was under the influence of drink and drugs,” lawyer Laura Wass said at the time.

Depp and Heard, whose films include “Pineapple Express” and “Zombieland,” met when they worked together on the 2011 comedy movie “The Rum Diary.”

With News Wire Services

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