Johnny Depp applies to Court of Appeal over Amber Heard assault ruling

Appeal does not have ‘reasonable prospect of success’ said libel trial judge

(PA)

Johnny Depp has applied to the Court of Appeal to overturn a High Court judgement that found claims that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard to be “substantially true”.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued The Sun's publisher for libel after the newspaper’s executive editor  wrote a column in 2018 labelling him a “wife-beater”. 

However, Mr Depp’s claim was dismissed last month after a judge ruled that publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) had proved the allegations made in the article to be broadly accurate.

After ruling against the actor’s claim last month, Mr Justice Nicol said an appeal to overturn the ruling does not have a "reasonable prospect of success".

Mr Depp was ordered to begin paying NGN for its legal fees, which amounted to nearly £630,000, after the judge ruled that 12 of the 14 allegations made in The Sun’s article had occurred.

Mr Justice Nicol gave the actor until 7 December to apply directly to the Court of Appeal to overturn the judgement. Mr Depp has now filed an application with the court, a publicly-available list of pending appeals shows.

It is not known what the actor’s grounds of appeal are, or when a decision on his application for permission to appeal is likely to be made.

During the three-week trial in July, the court considered allegations of domestic violence between 2013 to 2016, when the couple's relationship ended. Of the 14 alleged incidents, there were only two the judge did not rule as having occurred, including one which he said could not be proven as it was not put to Mr Depp in cross-examination.

Mr Justice Nicol said: “Although [Mr Depp] has proved the necessary elements of his cause of action in libel, the defendants have shown that what they published, in the meaning which I have held the words to bear, was substantially true.

“I have reached these conclusions having examined in detail the 14 incidents on which the defendants rely, as well as the over-arching considerations which the claimant submitted I should take into account.”

The actor was asked to step down from his role in the Harry Potter spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts following the ruling. Resigning, Mr Depp issued a statement saying: "The surreal judgment of the court in the UK will not change my fight to tell the truth and I confirm that I plan to appeal."

Mr Depp's lawyer called the ruling "perverse", while Ms Heard's lawyer said the judgement was "not a surprise" and said the team will soon be "presenting even more voluminous evidence in the US" in a separate case.