[imagesource: Jim Watson / Pool via Reuters]

Less than two months after a jury decided in Johnny Depp’s favour in the highly publicised defamation battle against ex-wife Amber Heard, the actor was scheduled to make another court appearance for an unrelated matter.

During the filming of City of Lies in 2017, a crew member alleged that Depp punched him twice on set and was ready to take the actor to court for the assault.

According to location manager Gregg “Rocky” Brooks’ original lawsuit filed in 2018, Depp became angry when Brooks informed him that they had to wrap up filming for the night due to permit requirements.

Vanity Fair describes the scene that followed:

Brooks says that as he approached an LAPD officer for protection, Depp pursued him, allegedly punching him twice in the ribs after screaming, “Who the fuck are you? You have no right to tell me what to do.”

The location manager then claims that when he didn’t react to Depp’s punches, the actor said he’d give him “$100,000 to punch me in the face right now.”

According to the lawsuit, Depp was eventually escorted from the scene by his own bodyguards.

According to HuffPost, Brooks was fired three days later, after declining to sign a release waiving his right to sue over the incident.

The latest is that as of Monday, the pair (pictured below in 2017) managed to reach a settlement, just weeks before the case was set to go to a civil trial in Los Angeles:

As they were able to settle the suit, Judge Holly J. Fujie agreed to delay the trial from July 25 to January 5 of next year..

Image: Twitter / @MyGrindelwald

…if Depp fulfills all of the requirements of the settlement, the case will be dismissed. The court filing did not reveal what specific things Depp will have to accomplish before then.

In 2018, Depp’s lawyer at the time called Brooks’ allegations a “sham”, arguing that Depp “never touched the person suing him, as over a dozen witnesses present will attest”. He also threatened to launch “malicious prosecution claims against [Brooks’] attorneys”.

Brooks’s lawyer, Pat Harris, was well aware that his client would be up against the court of public opinion. He said this in 2019:

“In any confrontation between the two of them, no matter who started it, no matter who’s responsible, Johnny Depp is going to come out on top and our guy is going to come out damaged.”

I think I know someone who can relate.

It’s certainly been a good week on the Depp legal front, with a judge yesterday rejecting Amber Heard’s request for the defamation case involving the Pirates of the Caribbean star to be declared a mistrial.

[sources:huffpost&vanityfair]