The legal dispute between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, co -stars and producer/director of ‘It ends with us’, Add a new chapter with the decision of a Federal Judge of the United States who could have significant media and judicial repercussions.
Judge Lewis J. Liman He ruled on June 18 that Lively must deliver the relevant text messages he has exchanged with his friend Taylor Swiftas part of the process of discovery of evidence in the demand for sexual harassment and reprisals that the actress filed against Baldoni.
According to the failure obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Lively identified Swift as someone who could be aware of complaints or conversations related to the work environment during the filming of ‘It Ends With Us’. Therefore, the judge considers that reviewing these messages could help try or refute the accusations of harassment and reprisals made by Lively.
When did the legal dispute start?
The judicial battle began in December 2024, when the actress filed a formal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set. Lively also claimed that, by threatening to make his accusations public, he was subject to a reprisal plan “sophisticated, coordinated and well financed.”
A day later, the New York Times published an extensive investigation entitled “We can bury anyone: within a Hollywood discredit machinery ”which pointed to the Baldoni Public Relations team for allegedly trying to damage the image of the actress. On December 31, Lively filed a formal lawsuit against Baldoni, his Wayfarer studies and his public relations team.
Although in May of this year Baldoni’s team quoted Taylor Swift as a witness, the citation was subsequently withdrawn. However, Lively’s legal team alleges that the real intention behind the insistence to obtain messages with the pop star is not to discover legitimate evidence, but to feed a media narrative to clean the image of Baldoni.
Judge Liman, however, dismissed that objection and argued that “This concern does not justify to deny the Wayfarer parties the discovery of relevant evidence.”
Despite the reverse, the court also rejected a request from Baldoni and Wayfarer for Lively to deliver additional documents related to production, highlighting that the actress has already submitted more documentation than the defendant.
A Lively spokesman He responded to the ruling by pointing out that the insistence on including Swift in the case is part of a deliberate strategy of Baldoni and his team to divert attention.
In his statement, they claim that since August 2024, the public relations firm led by Melissa Nathan included Swift in a document of “”Scenario planning ”, in which they even called it a“ stalker ”and proposed a strategy to manipulate their fans base.
“We will continue to denounce Baldoni’s tireless efforts to exploit the popularity of Mrs. Swift,” concludes the text, qualifying these attempts as a distraction of the serious accusations faced by the director and his team.
At the moment, neither Taylor Swift nor Justin Baldoni have issued public statements after this new judicial decision.
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