Jim Carrey is likely to face trial over his ex-girlfriend Cathriona White's suicide after his lawyers failed to get the wrongful death lawsuits filed against him thrown out.
The Irish-born make-up artist took her own life at her California home with a cocktail of prescription drugs in September, 2015, days after she and Carrey reportedly ended their relationship for a second time.
The 30-year-old's estranged husband Mark Burton filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Carrey, who dated White on and off since 2012, claiming he was responsible for her death as he provided White with the pills she overdosed on and gave her sexually transmitted diseases, claims which were also made by White's mother Brigid Sweetman in her own wrongful death lawsuit.
Carrey's lawyer Raymond Boucher filed a motion to throw out the case but Judge Deirdre Hill at Los Angeles Superior Court indicated that she would side with the prosecution, who urged her not to delay proceedings any longer, on Wednesday (31May17).
Although she has yet to send her final ruling on their motion to strike the lawsuits, she set a trial date for 26 April (17) and estimated it would last 20 days, according to the Press Association.
During the court appearance, Boucher argued that the claims made under drugs legislation were likely to fall outside the statute of limitations and said the wrongful death claims were too vague, while Burton and Sweetman's lawyer Ahmed Ibrahim said, "We are clearly not alleging that Jim Carrey was selling drugs out of the back of his pick-up truck and was therefore not marketing or selling in the traditional sense of what that word would bring to mind,"
Boucher reportedly said after hearing: "Mr Carrey loved Ms White dearly and so obviously it will be a very painful process for him."
The actor has denied the allegations, which his lawyers called "malicious" and "predatory".
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