Amber Heard’s legal team asked the case to be dismissed, only for the judge to reject their request.
According to reports, the Aquaman star’s lawyers asked Judge Penney Azcarate to end the case, claiming that Johnny Depp hadn’t proven his allegations.
But Judge Azcarate denied the motion to dismiss the case and said that it should be allowed to move forward if Depp has provided a ‘scintilla’ of evidence to back up his claims.
Depp, 58, is now suing his ex-wife Heard, 36, for defamation over a 2018 article she wrote in The Washington Post.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star has denied all allegations and gave testimony at the trial, saying that he was the victim.
He is now suing the actress for $50 million, saying her claims have harmed his reputation and career.
The divorced stars’ trial started April 11 in Fairfax County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
Heard’s lawyer Benjamin Rotternborn said that if the court agrees that Depp abused the actress “even one time, she wins – it’s that simple.”
He also said that the evidence Depp abused his ex-wife verbally and physically was “overwhelming and undisputed.”
Rottenborn argued that the defamation case should be stricken because Depp failed to establish “falsity of statement.”
Depp’s lawyer Benjamin Chew responded and said that the actor had “come forward with multiple credible witnesses, documents and authentic tape recordings of Miss Heard herself.”
He said that evidence satisfied “all of the requisite elements of his claim for defamation” and also went the “extra mile of showing Miss Heard physically abused him.”
Raising his voice, Chew pointed at Heard and said: “She’s the abuser in this courtroom!”
On Tuesday, the judge said she’s reserving judgment on whether the article’s headline should be part of the case as she said the evidence is not clear whether Heard is responsible for it.
The headline in online editions reads: “I spoke up against s*xual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
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