Johnny Depp will be allowed to move forward with his $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, Amber Heard after Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate in Virginia denied Heard’s request to dismiss the suit.

Amber Heard was basing her dismissal request on the fact that ‘The Sun’ won against Depp in the libel case he leveled against them previously.  However, Heard was not named in that case and later wrote and op-ed piece in the Washington Post, which has lead to this libel suit against her.

Judge Azcarate summed it up her reasoning:

“Because she [Heard] was not named a defendant, she [Heard] was not subject to the same discovery rules applicable to named parties. In fact, Defendant [Heard] could not have been a named defendant to the UK litigation because her [Heard] allegedly defamatory statements were made after the UK action commenced.”

“[Heard] argues she was in privity with The Sun because they both had the same interest in the case. However, for privity to exist, [Heard’s] interest in the case must be so identical with The Sun’s interest such that The Sun’s representation of its interest is also a representation of [Heard’s] legal right. The Sun’s interests were based on whether the statements the newspaper published were false. [Heard’s] interests relate to whether the statements she published were false.”

Depp is claiming that the accusations made my Heard have led to “irreparably damage” to his “brand.” It can be argued that the claims possibly led to him being removed from the Fantastic Beasts series and Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

The actor has also stated that he believes Hollywood is now boycotting him.

Meanwhile accusations have come out against Heard about her abuse towards Depp, yet she still gets to work on films like ‘Aquaman 2.’  If accusations are enough for her to write an op-ed piece that arguably caused him to lose work, why don’t accusations against her work the same way?

What do you think? Comment and let us know!

Source: Comicbook.com, Deadline, CNN,