Judge rules Johnny Depp's outrageous spending habits aren't relevant in his legal battle with ex-managers
According to Deadline, L.A. superior court judge Teresa Beaudet found that The Management Group (TMG) - which counter-sued Depp after the actor sued its principals Joel and Robert Mandel for allegedly collecting millions in fees without his consent in January - failed to connect how Depp's spending relates to the money the actor allegedly still owes the company.
"The pages of allegations of Depp's allegedly outrageous spending clearly have no relevance to the 5% commission allegedly owed TMG from the 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' payout, or to the final work done by TMG on transitioning their files to Depp's new representatives," Judge Beaudet wrote.
However, the fraud claim against Depp still stands. TMG alleged that its employees aided in Depp's transition to a new business manager because it was told repeatedly it would be paid for the work.
"TMG alleged that Cross-Defendants never intended to abide by their promises and TMG reasonably relied on the alleged false promises by doing the 386 hours of work during those last two weeks of March," Beaudet wrote. "TMG has sufficiently alleged the elements of an action for promissory fraud with sufficient specificity."
The case will go before a jury on January 24 next year.