Johnny Depp Reaches Settlement In 'City Of Lies' Assault Case

It looks like actor Johnny Depp won't have to spend time in a Los Angeles courtroom after all.

Although his defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, ended on June 1, her legal team has been trying to get the judge to declare a mistrial by citing an alleged fake juror. While that legal case continues in Fairfax, Virginia, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor was expected in Los Angeles to sit for another trial, where he had been accused of battery and assault.

However, exactly two weeks before the trial was set to begin, it looks like the two sides were able to reach an agreement out of court.

As Deadline reported on Monday night, Johnny Depp was able to reach a settlement brought against him by former “City of Angels” location manager Gregg “Rocky” Brooks in 2018.

In a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Brooks’ lawyer Arbella Azizian said a settlement had been reached, although the terms of their agreement were not made public.

The court documents read:

“The settlement agreement conditions dismissal of this matter on the satisfactory completion of specified terms that are not to be performed within 45 days of the date of the settlement.”

They also state: “A request for dismissal will be filed no later than 1/5/2023.”

On Monday morning, Judge Holly J. Fujie added a minute order, stating, “Dismissal After Settlement is scheduled for 02/16/2023.”

Camille Vasquez, who made headlines for representing Depp in his defamation trial against Amber Heard, was supposed to represent Depp in this case as well. Although the incident happened in 2017, the movie was not released on March 19, 2021. Directed by Brad Furman, Depp starred opposite Forest Whitaker.

A synopsis for the movie reads:

“Los Angeles Police Department detective Russell Poole has spent years trying to solve his biggest case -- the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur -- but after two decades, the investigation remains open. Jack Jackson, a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies.”

According to the lawsuit, Brooks claimed that Depp assaulted him on the night of April 13, 2017, after production had wrapped for the night. Brooks alleged that he could smell alcohol on Depp as he hurled obscenities at him before he hit Brooks “twice in the lower left side of his rib cage and causing pain.”

Brooks claims Johnny Depp told him that he’d pay him $100,000 dollars to “punch me in the face right now.” Brooks said that Depp’s personal security team escorted him away, but the drama didn’t end there. Brooks insists that he was let go from the production after he refused to move on from the incident.

For now, it looks like the incident is finally blowing over for Depp, as he continues to fight his legal battle against his ex-wife.

On Monday, Johnny Depp’s legal team provided a lengthy opposition to “reject Ms. Heard’s baseless contention” after Amber Heard and her legal team argued that the jury verdict should be thrown out and a new trial should be ordered after they claimed to have discovered that one of the jurors is not who they claimed to be.

It looks like a man born in 1945 was supposed to show up for jury duty, but instead of the 77-year-old man, a 52-year-old man took his place. However, Depp's legal team insists that should not be enough to get the jury's verdict thrown out.

“Following a six-week jury trial, a jury of Ms. Heard’s peers rendered a verdict against her in virtually all respects,” the memorandum said, as per Deadline. “Though understandably displeased with the outcome of the trial, Ms. Heard has identified no legitimate basis to set aside in any respect the jury’s decision.”

The recent court filing goes on to say, “Virginia law is clear that a verdict is not to be set aside unless it is ‘plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.’”

“Here, the verdict was well supported by the overwhelming evidence, consistent with the law, and should not be set aside,” the statement continues. “Mr. Depp respectfully submits that the Court should deny Ms. Heard’s Post-Trial Motions, which verge into the frivolous.”