The man who sued Johnny Depp for allegedly punching him on a film set blew off a court hearing this week and now faces possible sanctions by the court.
On November 6, a scheduled court hearing went down in Los Angeles Court where both parties were supposed to appear. According to court documents, Depp’s lawyer was present for the hearing but Gregg “Rocky” Brooks and his lawyer failed to show up.
The judge set a hearing for next month to determine if he will punish Brooks for not showing up, meaning he could be hit with monetary sanctions or could risk having his entire case dismissed.
Earlier this year, Brooks sued Depp accusing him of punching him on the set of the upcoming film, “City of Lies.” The film is based around the murder investigations of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.
Brooks, who was a location manager, claimed he was trying to enforce permit restrictions on the set on April 13, 2017.
The location manager claimed they had a permit to shoot until 7:00 PM outside and 10:00 PM inside and Brooks was able to get the permit extended multiple times to accommodate the actor, who wanted to direct a longer version of a scene.
Brooks then told the director the shooting would have to halt production, and the director allegedly told Brooks, “Why don’t you tell that to Johnny Depp?”
Brooks says he then went to get an on-set police officer to help him tell Depp but before he could, Depp approached him yelling, “Who the f**k are you? You have no right to tell me what to do!”
He tried to explain the situation but Brooks claims Depp then punched him twice in the lower side of his rib cage. He claims Depp then yelled, “I will give you $100,000 to punch me in the face right now!”
Brooks claimed Depp’s breath smelled of alcohol and said the actor’s bodyguards had to intervene to stop the situation. He was fired from the film three days later when he refused to sign a release over the incident.
Recently, Johnny Depp fired back at the lawsuit demanding it be tossed out of court. The actor denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the lawsuit and says his alleged actions were done in self-defense.
He accused Brooks of willfully and maliciously acting out and conducting his activities in a way that made him fear for his safety on set.
Further, he claimed Brooks did not comply with the directions of his employer and as a result is demanding the entire case be dismissed.
The case is ongoing.
