Johnny Depp settles legal fee row

Johnny Depp has settled a row over unpaid legal fees.
The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor had enlisted the services of attorneys from Buckley LLP to represent him in his malpractice suit against former lawyer Jake Bloom but they were fired in January and sued the 56-year-old star a few months later as he allegedly hadn’t paid his bill.
Attorneys Fredrick Levin, Michael Rome and Ali Abugheida had taken legal action to obtain the close-to $350,000 they claimed Johnny owed on his already 10%-discounted $535,697.28 balance but according to Deadline, he has now reached a deal with the lawyers.
The agreement comes just a few weeks after the ‘Black Mass’ star settled the malpractice suit from his former attorney, who he accused of dishonestly claiming millions of dollars in fees.
Johnny won an "eight-figure" settlement from Jake Bloom’s firm, Bloom Hergott, after claiming the lawyer had wrongly collected in excess of $30 million over nearly two decades.
Adam Waldman – who represented the actor in the case – said in a statement last month: "Today, Bloom Hergott provided Johnny Depp an eight-figure payment to settle Mr Depp’s lawsuit against the firm for fraud, conflict of interest, disgorgement of over $30 million in voidable fees and other malfeasance that they engaged in over nearly two decades."
The ‘Edward Scissorhands’ actor – who is one of the movie industry’s best-paid performers – launched legal action against Bloom in October 2017, arguing that their agreement ought to have been contractual, rather than simply based on a handshake.
Bloom subsequently counter-sued the Hollywood star, calling for the case to be thrown out.
However, in August last year, a court in Los Angeles found in favour of the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ actor – while he was still being represented by the Buckley team – which proved to be a decisive moment in the dispute.
Bryan Freedman – Bloom Hergott’s lawyer – has confirmed an agreement has now been reached between both parties, though he stressed that the final sum of money was significantly less than what Depp was originally seeking in the dispute.
The lawyer added: "While the firm was confident it would prevail at trial, we are nonetheless pleased with this resolution as it expedites the firm’s winding down process and allows it to get off the endless Johnny Depp litigation train.