Judge Andrew Nicol ruled against Johnny Depp in the actor's attempt to appeal his failed libel case against the Rupert Murdoch-owned British newspaper, The Sun. The Fantastic Beasts star had filed the suit after the tabloid repeated claims by Depp's ex-wife, Aquaman star Amber Heard, that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was physically abusive towards her during their tumultuous, short-lived marriage.

The initial article was published in The Sun on April 27, 2018. The headline that drove Depp to a lawsuit was: “Gone Potty: How Can J.K. Rowling Be ‘Genuinely Happy’ Casting Wife Beater Johnny Depp in the New Fantastic Beasts Film?” In British defamation lawsuits, the defendants have to prove that what they wrote was true (rather than the claimant having to prove that what they wrote was false). It is a heavier burden and it is one that Judge Andrew Nicol determined that News Group Newspapers (the division of Murdoch's News Corp that directly owns The Sun) succeeded in proving during the trial.

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At the heart of the case was Nicol examining the fourteen instances of alleged abuse by Depp towards Heard that the Sun's lawyers offered up in the trial. Depp's lawyers had their own counter-explanation for each of the allegations. Ultimately, Nicol determined that he believed Heard in almost all of the allegations (eliminating two simply for technical failings, like Depp's lawyers not getting a chance to cross-examine Heard on the allegation) and thus determined that it was reasonable to refer to Depp as a "wife-beater."

It is important to note that while Nicol did side with Heard on almost all of the claims, it is likely that Depp's case would have failed even had Nicol not agreed with Heard so often. This is because Depp conceded that he took a lot of drugs and frequently drank to excess during their marriage. When you pair that with Depp's texts to Heard about his loss of control while on drugs and alcohol, it would be very difficult for Depp to convince Nicol that none of the allegations were true and only one of them really needed to be true for the Sun to reasonably claim that Depp was a "wife-beater."

RELATED: Johnny Depp Loses Libel Case Against The Sun Over Amber Heard Abuse Allegations

Nicol denied Depp's appeal because he determined that it did not have “a reasonable prospect of success." Nicol also ruled that Depp must pay an initial £628,000 in legal costs to The Sun. It is possible that Depp might appeal further to the Court of Appeals. Interestingly, the whole mess started with a Sun article about Depp being cast in the second Fantastic Beasts film and following Depp's loss, he was replaced in Fantastic Beasts 3 with Mads Mikkelsen.

Via Deadline