<p>The US judge hearing the defamation suit filed by "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard rejected a defense request Tuesday to toss the case.</p>.<p>Lawyers for the 36-year-old "Aquaman" actress asked Judge Penney Azcarate to dismiss the suit after Depp's attorneys rested their case following three weeks of testimony in Fairfax County Circuit Court.</p>.<p>They claimed Depp had failed to prove he was defamed by a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post in which Heard described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."</p>.<p>"The court should grant the motion to strike because the undisputed evidence is that he did, in fact, abuse Amber," said Heard's lawyer Ben Rottenborn.</p>.<p>Depp's lawyer, Benjamin Chew, asked the judge to deny the motion, claiming it was Heard who is "the abuser in this courtroom."</p>.<p>Such a motion to dismiss is common in legal proceedings but is rarely granted.</p>.<p>The judge said enough evidence had been presented so far to allow the case to proceed, and she would leave it up to the seven-person jury to decide.</p>.<p>"If there is a scintilla of evidence that a reasonable juror could weigh, then the matter survives a motion to strike," she said.</p>.<p>Heard never named the 58-year-old Depp in the Post op-ed, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and is seeking $50 million in damages.</p>.<p>The Texas-born Heard countersued, asking for $100 million and claiming she suffered "rampant physical violence and abuse" at his hands.</p>.<p>Depp has denied ever being physically abusive towards Heard and claimed at the blockbuster trial that she was the one who was frequently violent.</p>.<p>Heard's lawyers began calling their own witnesses after Depp's side rested their case.</p>.<p>Heard is expected to take the witness stand herself this week.</p>.<p>Depp filed the defamation complaint in the United States after losing a separate libel case in London in November 2020 that he brought against The Sun for calling him a "wife-beater."</p>.<p>Depp, a three-time Oscar nominee, and Heard met in 2009 on the set of the film "The Rum Diary" and were married in February 2015. Their divorce was finalized two years later.</p>
<p>The US judge hearing the defamation suit filed by "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard rejected a defense request Tuesday to toss the case.</p>.<p>Lawyers for the 36-year-old "Aquaman" actress asked Judge Penney Azcarate to dismiss the suit after Depp's attorneys rested their case following three weeks of testimony in Fairfax County Circuit Court.</p>.<p>They claimed Depp had failed to prove he was defamed by a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post in which Heard described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."</p>.<p>"The court should grant the motion to strike because the undisputed evidence is that he did, in fact, abuse Amber," said Heard's lawyer Ben Rottenborn.</p>.<p>Depp's lawyer, Benjamin Chew, asked the judge to deny the motion, claiming it was Heard who is "the abuser in this courtroom."</p>.<p>Such a motion to dismiss is common in legal proceedings but is rarely granted.</p>.<p>The judge said enough evidence had been presented so far to allow the case to proceed, and she would leave it up to the seven-person jury to decide.</p>.<p>"If there is a scintilla of evidence that a reasonable juror could weigh, then the matter survives a motion to strike," she said.</p>.<p>Heard never named the 58-year-old Depp in the Post op-ed, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and is seeking $50 million in damages.</p>.<p>The Texas-born Heard countersued, asking for $100 million and claiming she suffered "rampant physical violence and abuse" at his hands.</p>.<p>Depp has denied ever being physically abusive towards Heard and claimed at the blockbuster trial that she was the one who was frequently violent.</p>.<p>Heard's lawyers began calling their own witnesses after Depp's side rested their case.</p>.<p>Heard is expected to take the witness stand herself this week.</p>.<p>Depp filed the defamation complaint in the United States after losing a separate libel case in London in November 2020 that he brought against The Sun for calling him a "wife-beater."</p>.<p>Depp, a three-time Oscar nominee, and Heard met in 2009 on the set of the film "The Rum Diary" and were married in February 2015. Their divorce was finalized two years later.</p>