Michele Mulrooney — Direct/Cross/Redirect
167 linesMS. BREDEHOFT: Your Honor, may we approach?
THE COURT: Sure. Let's get everybody s here. It's been a party today.
MS. BREDEHOFT: I was trying to catch up, but because of Your Honor's ruling on Bercovici that changed things considerably, I scrambled part of it on what we're putting on of him
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And then so we're going to do just putting on deposition designations.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Some of those we didn't say we were putting on today because we didn't --
THE COURT: I don't think we'll have time.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Well, we do have the times. The next one that we want to call is 10th of May. They sent it back on the 13th of May. I don't think there should any prejudice in putting that on. It's 32 minutes.
MS. VASQUEZ: There is. We have an objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: What's the objection?
MS. VASQUEZ: The objection is that Your Honor's rulings aren't reflected, and we have been notified during the lunch break that they intended to call Dr. Blaustein by video. We have been reviewing that deposition. In light of their designations, these videos have been respliced, and there are objections that were sustained by Your Honor that are still in the video, so we have a severe objection to this. Very prejudiced.
MS. BREDEHOFT: This was back on May 11th, Your Honor. They didn't ever tell us --
THE COURT: Well, objections are still in there. If there's testimony in there that I sustained objection to, I can't have it at trial.
MS. BREDEHOFT: I would agree, Your Honor. And we just aren't aware of them. We weren't made aware of them.
MS. VASQUEZ: We informed you. We have sent three emails as we have two associates to desperately look through it. There are problems with the video. They can't play the video. They have objections that Your Honor sustained.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. What can you do?
THE COURT: Do you have a different one?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Yeah.
THE COURT: Maybe that could be resolved by the end of the day.
MS. BREDEHOFT: All right. Then we'll do Jessica Kovacevic, Your Honor. We actually may have some issues, Your Honor, on being able to get enough in for the whole day. We've probably got
THE COURT: Closing arguments are next Friday. It's going to count towards your time.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Well, might be even sooner. Closing arguments might be sooner, Your Honor, is what I'm saying.
THE COURT: Okay. Well, I'm saying if we don't go to the end of the day, I'm still going to count to the end of the day to your side.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Thank you, Your Honor.
MS. VASQUEZ: I need to confirm whether I is this one has been reviewed.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. VASQUEZ: The point of the rule, Your Honor, if I understood it, was to notify us 48 hours in advance as to deposition she's playing.
THE COURT: I understand. And I make rulings; I understand that changes the flow of the I trial. That's not going to be a concern for me.
MS. VASQUEZ: But the problem with us is we're trying to play catch-up and review depositions in light of their dedesignation.
THE COURT: I understand. I understand. Trial is fluid. I get that. So these are the only two that you're prepared to go Is forward on today?
MS. BREDEHOFT: No, no, no. We have -- after Kovacevic, Your Honor, we have Michele Mulrooney. We have the Disney corporate representative, and we have Eric George.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. BREDEHOFT: So and then we have lis Ellen Barkin. So those we can. And then what we'll probably do is I'm going to try to get an I attorney to look at Blaustein and see --
THE COURT: So I know that Disney one was for today. So was Eric George and Ellen Barkin, so you can do those first. Are you going to have any others?
MS. VASQUEZ: Correct.
MR. CRAWFORD: Yeah, we have the order -- we have the order Elaine offered up to know. And we already provided her --
MS. BREDEHOFT: Blaustein.
THE COURT: Will that work?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Well, we'll see if we can get that being shifted during --
THE COURT: If we can do the ones that we agree upon now, then we'll have -- we'll do our break and then you'll have some time. And we should be able to fill the time up, right. So you're just going to have depositions now for the rest of the day?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Yes, Your Honor. That's all we have. And in fairness to them, I don't think we can call a witness -- we could call a witness, but we wouldn't have given them enough warning.
THE COURT: I assume you'd rather do the depositions than live witnesses.
MS. VASQUEZ: Yeah. For the ones that are notified for today.
MR. ROTTENBORN: Your Honor, if I may just address Mr. Moniz.
MR. ROTTENBORN: Are you done with the comments on Blaustein?
MR. MONIZ: Yeah.
MR. ROTTENBORN: Because that one we could just kind of play and just stop and fast-forward.
THE COURT: I'd rather not do that. You guys are doing great in depositions. We're moving really well now, so I don't want to go back to that first day we did depositions.
MS. BREDEHOFT: All right. So we're going to start with Michele Mulrooney, and then we'll do Disney corporate.
THE COURT: And then Ellen Bar kin?
MS. BREDEHOFT: And then Ellen Barkin, and then --
THE COURT: And then we'll see. We should have everything after that. Okay. Perfect, thank you.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Thank you, Your Honor.
MS. BREDEHOFT: May I quickly address --
THE COURT: Sure. Yeah. Go ahead.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Thank you, Your Honor. We will call Michele Mulrooney by deposition designation, and we start.
THE COURT: Okay. Just give us a moment to get that. Just want to spell the last name for me?
MS. BREDEHOFT: M-U-L-R-O-O-N-E-Y.
THE COURT: All right. Okay. MICHELE MULROONEY, being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
MS. BREDEHOFT: Please state your name and address for the record
MICHELE MULROONEY: Michele Mulrooney, Los Angeles, California 90067.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Ms. Mulrooney, what is your occupation?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I'm a partner at Gallagher, LLP, an attorney practice.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Could you just please describe a brief -- give me a brief description of your educational background and work history.
MICHELE MULROONEY: Okay. I attended USC and received my undergraduate degree in 1982. And then I then attended USC and received my law degree in 1985. I then worked for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher until 1991, and then I worked for an entertainment law firm that was originally called Armstrong Hirsch when I joined it, then later morphed into several names. And then in 2011, I joined Gallagher, LLP,
MS. BREDEHOFT: What were your areas of practice and expertise?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I'm head of the state funding - the West Coast estate planning group for Gallagher.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And would that estate planning involve any aspect of marital estate planning, such as things like prenups and postnups, prenuptial and postnuptial?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Yes. We frequently do prenups, cohabitation, and postnup agreements for our clients.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Would you please briefly describe what a prenuptial and a postnuptial is?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Prenuptial agreement is where spouses contract on the economics of their marriage before they are married, and they discuss things as the nature - they contract such things as the nature of the property: Community, separate, et cetera, and also things like spousal support. And in a postnup, the clients do that after they're married. The same, they contract on the same issues.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Do you regularly represents actors?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: I'm asking very narrowly. Did there come a time when Amber Heard contacted you for representation respecting a prenup or a postnup agreement?
MICHELE MULROONEY: At some point, I was contacted for an Amber Heard prenup.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Ms. Mulrooney, I'm going to show you what has been marked as Exhibit Number 3, and it's an email from you to a Dana Lowy. Do you know who Dana Lowy is?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Yes. is?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Could you please tell us who Dana Lowy
MICHELE MULROONEY: She's a family law attorney practicing in Los Angeles.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And this is dated Monday, February 2, 2015, and says, "I look forward to working with you. Please send to me" -- this is from you. "Please send me the bullet points for the economics of the deal when you are back in the office tomorrow. I will have Amber's business manager get her financial information to me ASAP. I would also like to exchange two years of tax returns but not attach them. Is this your general practice? Let me know. Thanks." Who did Dana Lowy represent?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Johnny Depp.
MS. BREDEHOFT: I take it Amber, in the actual b document, is Amber Heard; is that correct?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Yes.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. And if I just direct your attention to the top of the email where it says February -- sorry, I'm trying to get control here -- February 2, 2015, what, if anything, does this do to refresh your recollection on when, approximately, you were contacted about representing Amber Heard in connection with a prenup?
MICHELE MULROONEY: It makes the approximate date more clear to me.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. And based on this, when, approximately, were you contacted to represent Amber Heard in connection with the prenup or postnup?
MICHELE MULROONEY: The early part of February - the late part of January or the early part of February 2015.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Ms. Mulrooney, I'm going to ask you to take a look at what has been marked as Exhibit Number 4. And it is an email from you to Dana Lowy, which is Mr. Depp's counsel, correct?
MICHELE MULROONEY: During this time period, correct.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And it's dated Tuesday, February 3. I'm going to scroll down first so we get the earliest part of it, and the first part of it is an email from Dana Lowry to you dated February 3rd, at 10:13, and says, "J/A deal points." Do you know what J/A means?
MS. BREDEHOFT: I'm going to take you, first of all, to the bottom part which is the J/A deal points. Do you have an understanding of what J/A means?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I believe it means Johnny/Amber deal points.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Absent a prenuptial agreement or a postnuptial agreement, is California what we call a "common law property state"?
MS. BREDEHOFT: What is it?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Community property state.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. And what does that mean?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Generally means that all earnings after the date of marriage are owned - each party has an undivided 50 percent interest in those earnings.
MS. BREDEHOFT: What was your understanding of the purpose of a confidentiality agreement?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Very standard when you're doing a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement, when either party is exposing their assets, that they have their confidentiality agreement.
MS. BREDEHOFT: "Dana. I have forwarded to Amber. She is filming a movie, but hope to connect with her by the end of the week I will keep trying to move forward." I'm asking you what you meant by "I will keep trying to move forward."
MICHELE MULROONEY: I assume I meant that we're trying to get a postnuptial agreement signed between the parties, and that's what I was hired for.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Showing you what's been marked as exhibit Number 7. And I'm going to start, again, with going down to show you where the screen is here, and it says -- sorry. On February 17, that's the same email we've seen a couple times now where she's attaching the confidentiality g y agreement telling you that she'll have a draft postnup agreement but she's getting the signed confidentiality agreement first.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And then I'm going to direct your attention to the very top part, and that is Wednesday, February 18, and it's from you to Dana Lowy. It says, "Amber is sending the signed confidentiality agreement to you -- to me. I assume I'll receive all the underlying financials on the list and anticipated future revenue streams and documentation pertaining thereto.
MS. BREDEHOFT: What did you mean by "underlying financials and a list of anticipated future revenue streams and documentation pertaining thereto"?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I mean, this is typical for an actor. They have profit participation, back ends. I wanted to have a list of what his future revenue would be. He might have had movies booked that he would render services after marriage. I just wanted to see the back ends.
MS. BREDEHOFT: What did you mean by "back ends"?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Back ends is either profit participations or royalties. Sometimes it's box office bonuses. You just have to look at the underlying agreement on each movie, TV show, et cetera, to track what their revenue will be from each project.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And why is that relevant?
MICHELE MULROONEY: You want to know what they're going to make during the marriage. You want to know the income during the marriage.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And those are all components of what !! 12 they make during the marriage? ,13
MICHELE MULROONEY: Correct.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Okay. Thank you. All right. And then you said, "I can't really comment on the document until I get this information.
MS. BREDEHOFT: What document were you referring to I there?
MICHELE MULROONEY: The postnup agreement that I anticipated she would send
MS. BREDEHOFT: How much time expired between when you were sent the confidentiality agreement for Amber Heard to sign and when you indicated back to counsel for Mr. Depp that Amber is sending the signed confidentiality agreement to you?
MICHELE MULROONEY: The next day.
MS. BREDEHOFT: What, if any, communication did you receive from Mr. Depp in connection with the postnup agreement?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I received one telephone call.
MS. BREDEHOFT: And who did you receive that telephone call from?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Mr. Depp.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Please describe the telephone call from Mr. Depp.
MICHELE MULROONEY: My recollection is that he was very mean, that he called me names, and that he fired me on behalf of Amber.
MS. BREDEHOFT: When you say that he was very mean, l what did you mean? e 119
MICHELE MULROONEY: Well, my only exact recollection was he called me a bitch.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Mr. Depp called you a bitch on that telephone call?
MS. BREDEHOFT: What, if any, observations did you make during the telephone call from Mr. Depp during which time he called you a bitch?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I thought he was under the influence.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Why did you think that?
MICHELE MULROONEY: He was slurring his words, and his speech pattern was similar to my children's speech pattern when they are -- when they are under the influence. I was extremely rattled by the call. We were on that phone call for a very short time period because he was represented by counsel and I want -- I didn't want to be rude and hang up, but I told him that I had to hang up. Like, after two or three minutes, after I realized what was happening, it took me very off guard, and I -- that's all I remember is that it really shook me up.
MS. BREDEHOFT: After that phone call, did you perform any further services for Ms. Heard in connection with the postnuptial agreement?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Do you recall ever seeing a postnuptial draft agreement?
MS. BREDEHOFT: Has either Ms. Heard or Mr. Depp contacted you at any time after the call with Mr. Depp respecting pursuing a postnuptial agreement?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I don't recall.
MICHELE MULROONEY: I don't recall.
MR. CHEW: And isn't it true that he wouldn't have had the authority to fire you even if he weren't paying for your legal services, true?
MICHELE MULROONEY: True.
MR. CHEW: What, if any, communications did you have with Dana Lowy about your conversation with Mr. Depp after the conversation with Mr. Depp?
MICHELE MULROONEY: I don't recall specifically.
MICHELE MULROONEY: I do recall that I told her that I was no longer representing Amber. But I don't know if I - was that in writing. Somehow she knew.
MR. CHEW: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you testified that Mr. Depp did not have the authority to fire you, correct?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Correct
MR. CHEW: Ms. Mulrooney, when did your I attorney-client relationship with Ms. Heard relating to a potential postnuptial agreement terminate?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Shortly after that phone call.
MR. CHEW: When you say "shortly after that phone call," can you give us a time frame of how long it was after the phone call?
MICHELE MULROONEY: Within a few days. Could be one.
MICHELE MULROONEY: Correct.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Do you have any recollection of ever receiving any more communications from Dana Lowy IO furthering the postnuptial agreement after Johnny I I . Depp called you and to d you he was firing you on behalf of Amber and called you names?
MICHELE MULROONEY: No substantive. I recall there "as no ! 14 substantive communications.
MS. BREDEHOFT: Was it any doubt in your mind that it was Mr. Depp who called you?