Johnny Depp will avoid the courtroom this month after his lawyers reached an agreement with the City of Lies crew member who accused the actor of assault in 2017.
Gregg (Rocky) Brooks, the film’s location manager, filed the lawsuit in 2018, claiming Depp punched him twice on set and offered him $100,000 to punch the actor in return. The civil trial was set for July 25 in Los Angeles, according to Variety. The judge was notified of the settlement on Monday. The details of the settlement are not known yet as they’ve not been made public.
In the lawsuit, Brooks claimed that Depp, 59, became enraged when he learned that the permits to film for the night at the Barclay Hotel in downtown Los Angeles had expired. He claimed Depp wanted to film a longer version of a scene, which Brooks was able to accommodate with two extensions, but filming had to stop by 11 p.m.
According to the lawsuit, when the location manager told director Brad Furman, he replied, “Why don’t you tell Johnny Depp?” Brooks then allegedly asked a police officer to assist him in informing Depp that filming had to be halted for the night.
Brooks claimed in the lawsuit that Depp became hostile and asked, “Who the f—k are you? You have no right to direct my actions!” Depp allegedly punched Brooks twice in the ribs before shouting, “I will give you $100,000 to punch me in the face right now!” The crew member claimed he smelled alcohol on Depp’s breath and that Depp had used drugs on set.
According to the legal filing, Brooks was fired from City of Lies after refusing to sign paperwork stating that he would not sue over the alleged incident. Once the settlement is completed and approved by both parties, the lawsuit is expected to be dismissed.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star recently won a defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Heard has requested a mistrial after being awarded $10.35 million in damages.
Camille Vasquez, who was on Depp’s legal team during the defamation trial, also represented him in the City of Lies assault case.
Why did Johnny Depp decide to settle?
In contrast to the trial against Amber Heard, where he believed he had a good chance of winning, Johnny Depp chose to settle this case because he knew he had done something wrong. Furthermore, Johnny Depp has several new projects in the works, so going to court again is not in his best interests.
A new trial would put an end to these projects, and he would be unable to continue working as he has for the past month. Not only does Johnny have a music tour with Jeff Back, but he also has a couple of movies in the works, one of which is with Netflix. Because the settlement amount was not made public, we may never know how much Depp paid for this one.
