Amber Heard’s motion to dismiss Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit was denied by the court presiding over the case.
Depp’s lawyers had presented enough evidence, according to Penny Azcarate, to keep the case going.
After the plaintiffs’ case is over, Heard’s request to strike is essentially a formality, and it was expected that Azcarate would deny it.
On Tuesday morning, without the jury present, attorneys for both sides made oral arguments on the move.
The primary goal of the move for Heard’s legal team is to ensure that the defence has certain appeal privileges if required.
Azcarate noted that “if there is a scintilla of evidence that a reasonable juror could weigh, then the matter survives a motion to strike.”
She added that there was “evidence that jurors could weigh that the statements were about the plaintiff, that the statements were published and that the statement was false, and that the defendant made the statement knowing it to be false or that the defendant made it so recklessly as to amount to willful disregard for the truth. The weight of that evidence is up to the fact finders.”
The Heard team had no reaction to the judge’s decision.