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Johnny Depp Sues Attorneys Over Alleged Malpractice

Johnny Depp has filed a lawsuit against his lawyer claiming he was swindled out of almost $35 million.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star filed a complaint on Tuesday (17Oct17), claiming Jacob A. Bloom and his law firm Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, LLP committed “professional malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment”.

In the documents, obtained by People.com, it states Depp hired Bloom and his firm to handle his legal affairs in 1999, but instead of protecting his interests, the lawyers “engaged in misconduct for their own financial benefit and violated some of the most basic tenets of the attorney-client relationship”.

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He also claims that, over the years, Bloom “improperly and negligently collected over $30,000,000 in voidable contingent fees” from his income without a legally binding contract under California law.

Johnny Depp’s lawsuit filed today reflects his continued stand against systemic, self-serving Hollywood practices that he hopes this lawsuit will expose and end,” Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman told People.

The 54-year-old is also currently locked in a legal battle with his former business managers Joel and Robert Mandel from The Management Group (TMG). He sued them in January for fraud and negligence, claiming their mishandling of his finances had caused him to run up debts of more than $40 million.

In his new complaint against Bloom and his firm, Depp claims his lawyers were conspiring with TMG to swindle him out of millions of dollars, and the lawyers were fully aware of TMG’s behaviour but did nothing to alert him.

Depp also accuses Bloom and his colleagues of taking out a loan on his behalf and manipulating the terms to benefit themselves and TMG. These terms allegedly meant Depp lost out on $32 million in residual money from his films over a three-year period.

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