Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s legal teams are battling it out once again over a legal filing.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, a plaintiff identified as “Vanzan” filed legal paperwork on September 27, 2024, against unnamed defendants. (Deadline was first to report.)
“This action arises out of an ongoing campaign to damage Plaintiff’s business and Plaintiff’s reputation,” court documents stated. “Defendants have certain contractual and confidentiality obligations and obligations of good faith and loyalty to Plaintiff regarding Plaintiff’s business and reputation, by way of oral promises and/or written agreements.”
In response to the previously unrevealed subpoena seeking lawsuit, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman spoke out about the possible reasons — and meaning — behind the legal moves.
“Ms. Lively’s and Mr. Reynolds’ company Vanzan had nothing to do with this case and they knew it,” Freedman said in a statement to Us Weekly on Monday, April 21. “This sham lawsuit was designed to obtain subpoena power without oversight or scrutiny, and in doing so denied my clients the ability to contest the propriety, nature and scope of the subpoena.”
According to Freedman — who has previously filed Doe lawsuits against unnamed defendants — “there is nothing normal about this” and officers of the court “have a duty of candor to the court and an obligation not to file fictitious lawsuits that have no basis in fact or law.”
“A party with no connection to these proceedings asserting a breach of contract against another party they claim not to be able to identify does not qualify,” he concluded. “This was done in bad faith and constitutes a flagrant abuse of process.”
Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, however, see things differently.
In addition to acknowledging the Doe lawsuit, they argue the legal filing was the best way to investigate the online attacks Lively allegedly faced in the summer of 2024 when It Ends With Us was released.
“There is nothing untoward here — just conscientious and thorough investigation,” Hudson and Gottlieb said in a statement to Us Weekly. “The Lively parties acted upon reliable information, and employed common tools such as Doe lawsuits and civil subpoenas that are entirely lawful and appropriate for pursuing claims and uncovering the identity of unknown perpetrators of unlawful activities.”
From the perspective of Lively’s legal team, the lawsuit “unearthed the Wayfarer Parties’ documented plan — in their own words, in their own text messages — to ‘destroy’ Blake Lively, a plan which they executed without transparency, disclosure, or notice to Ms. Lively or the public, instead acting in a way they thought would be ‘untraceable.’ We have absolutely nothing to hide — Ms. Lively voluntarily disclosed the subpoena in her first filing knowing that it would ultimately be produced to the Wayfarer Parties in discovery, and that is precisely what will happen as Ms. Lively’s claims move forward in the proper litigation process.”
The legal back and forth between Lively and Baldoni, who worked together on It Ends With Us, began in December 2024 when the Gossip Girl actress accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and conducting a “smear campaign” against her.
The same month, Baldoni launched separate lawsuits against The New York Times, who first reported the allegations, and Lively, 37, alleging defamation, among other claims. (All parties involved have vehemently denied all allegations against them.)
Related: Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s Lawyers Take New Shots at Each Other
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively‘s lawyers are firing back at each other over Lively’s motion to dismiss herself from the multimillion dollar lawsuit the It Ends With Us director filed against her. Bryan Freedman described the move as “abhorrent” and described it as “abusing the system” via a statement issued to Us Weekly on Thursday, […]
Previously, Judge Lewis J. Liman set a date for Baldoni and Lively’s trial to begin in New York on March 9, 2026, if the costars don’t settle their legal battle beforehand.
When asked if he predicts the case will be settled out of court, Freedman said the allegations are “a really serious thing” and it’s important that the truth is revealed.
“In this day and age, the only way that you can truly get back is to prove your innocence and that’s what we’re actively working to [do],” he shared in the March 12 episode of “The Town” podcast with host and former lawyer Matthew Belloni. “That may only be able to be done in a courtroom.”
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