The attorney who represented Johnny Depp in his defamation suit against Amber Heard is now on Danny Elfman's defense team.
Camille Vasquez. PHOTO: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
On July 19, 2023, Rolling Stone broke the story that acclaimed composer Danny Elfman had settled a lawsuit concerning sexual misconduct allegations, back in July of 2018.
The allegations came to light due to a lawsuit filed by the accuser, singer and composer Nomi Abadi, alleging that Elfman had missed two of the agreed-upon payments from the settlement, totaling $85,000, or about 10% of the full $830,000 settlement. On August 21, 2023, Danny Elfman's team filed their first document in this case, a Notice and Acknowledgement of Receipt, with the LA County Superior Court.
This document is a form that was mailed to Danny's team on Aug 1, with instructions that they were to return it as acknowledgement that they had received notice of the lawsuit.
The document was signed on Aug 21, acknowledging the receipt of "Complaint; Summons on Complaint; Civil Case Cover Sheet; Notice of Case Assignment".
All publicly available documents for this case can be found HERE, and we will add more to that folder as they become available.
The most outstanding detail on this document is that it was signed and returned by Camille M. Vasquez, the note under the signature reading, "Attorneys for Defendant Danny Elfman."
Ms. Vasquez rose to prominence during the Depp v. Heard defamation trial, where she served on Mr. Depp's legal team. From the perspective of many spectators, Ms. Vasquez was an incredible asset to the Depp team, especially on cross examination of the defendant, Amber Heard. Vasquez was skilled in pointing out inconsistencies in Ms. Heard's testimony and quick to object when appropriate.
We here at Danny Elfman Truth feel a sense of relief at this news, trusting that Ms. Vasquez and the rest of Danny's legal team are well equipped to defend him, in the case that he is innocent. We believe we have already found at least one important inconsistency in Ms. Abadi's claim, and trust that if any more exist, they will be explored.
We do, however, want to remind everyone of the circus that the Depp v. Heard trial became, and the negative effects that the wide-spread internet bullying of Heard may have had on real victims, and on #MeToo as a movement.
For your consideration, here is Jodi Kantor presenting that idea on CBS Mornings:
Luckily, the trial between Abadi and Elfman is unlikely to be televised and reach that level of media (and social media) fervor. We would still like to ask our readers to consider lessons from the past, and to commit to kindness, as this case continues to play out. Whatever your current feelings on Ms. Abadi are, and whatever they will be in the future, remember that she will likely never see your comments - but others will. What you post online may affect the comfort levels of victims and survivors as they consider coming forward about their own abuse.
We here at Danny Elfman Truth understand that the very existence of this website has the potential to fuel such vitriolic backlash against the alleged victim as was seen in the Depp / Heard case. We acknowledge this possibility and consider it a grave responsibility to avoid falling into that trap.
We are doing our best to present only facts and questions, not guesses or opinions. We are also taking steps to ensure we are presenting information from both sides. That being said, we are humans with biases and we may fail sometimes. We also can only work with the information available to us.
We invite you to hold us accountable. Our comments are open and there is a contact form on our website.
For further reading on the Depp / Heard #MeToo backlash, check out this article from The Guardian.
You can hear attorney Leeja Miller's perspective on the Depp / Heard case here:
Editor's note: We previously wrote that the two alleged missed settlement payments totaled $42,500. We have corrected our blog to reflect the correct amount. That is, two payments of $42,500 each, totaling $85,000.
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