Landmark libel ruling – Johnny Depp loses libel claim against The Sun
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Jeffrey Smele Head of Department
Partner Media and Communications Disputes +44 20 3206 2740 Email Jeffrey
Today we successfully defended News Group Newspapers Ltd and The Sun’s Executive Editor, Dan Wootton, in what has been called ‘the libel trial of the century’.
The Hollywood actor sued our clients for libel after being called a wife beater, who had caused his ex-wife Amber Heard to fear for her life. The trial took place over three weeks in the High Court in July 2020, and in today’s judgment Mr Justice Nicol has ruled that the allegations are true.
A link to the judgment, handed down today, can be found here.
Well done to the SMB team: Louis Charalambous, Jeffrey Smele and Enfys Jenkins and counsel Sasha Wass QC, Adam Wolanski QC and Clara Hamer.
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