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, March 20.
“Ms. Lively’s recent motion to dismiss herself from the self-concocted disaster she initiated is one of the most abhorrent examples of abusing our legal system,” he said via the statement. “Stringent rules are put into place to protect the innocent and allow individuals to rightfully defend themselves. Laws are not meant to be twisted and curated by privileged elites to fit their own personal agenda.”
He continued: “As we said yesterday in response to Mr. Reynolds’ same cowardly measures, we will continue to hold Ms. Lively accountable for her actions of pure malice which include falsely accusing my clients of harassment and retaliation. Her fantastical claims will be swiftly debunked as discovery moves forward, easily disproved with actual, evidentiary proof.”
A spokesperson for Lively slammed the statement when Us reached out for comment.
“The late night flurry of answers — instead of motions to dismiss — reveal that [Baldoni and Wayfarer defendants] know that they have no legal arguments remotely capable of dismissing our complaint,” Lively’s spokesperson told Us on Friday, March 21. “They have instead accepted that Ms. Lively’s complaint states valid legal claims that they could not muster a single reason to dismiss. Meanwhile, every person and entity the Baldoni-Wayfarer team sued has moved to dismiss their meritless PR stunt.”
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Earlier on Thursday, Lively, 37, filed the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, according to documents seen by Us.
“This lawsuit is a profound abuse of the legal process that has no place in federal court. California law now expressly prohibits suing victims who make the decision to speak out against sexual harassment or retaliation, whether in a lawsuit or in the press,” Lively’s lawyers Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson told Us in a statement.
The statement continued, “This meritless and retaliatory lawsuit runs head first into three legal obstacles, including the litigation, fair report, and sexual harassment privileges, the latter of which contains a mandatory fee shifting provision that will require the likes of … Wayfarer Studios, and others that brought frivolous defamation claims against Ms. Lively to pay damages. In other words, in an epic self-own, the Wayfarer Parties’ attempt to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ has only created more liability for them, and deservedly so, given what they have done.”
A spokesperson for Lively also told Us, “The painful reality is that Ms. Lively is not alone in being sued for defamation after speaking up about being sexually harassed at work. That is entirely why California recently enacted AB 933, the Privileged Communications Incident of Sexual Assault, Harassment, or Discrimination Act, which codified California civil code section 47.1. While Ms. Lively has suffered greatly by speaking up and pursuing legal claims, it is important for other people to know that they have protections, and that there is a specific law that expressly protects them from being silenced or financially ruined by a defamation lawsuit because they had the courage to speak up.”
Baldoni, 41, and Lively have been embroiled in controversy since they costarred in the film adaption of Colleen Hoover’s best selling novel, It Ends With Us.
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After rumors spread that Baldoni and Lively may be feuding in August 2024 during the promotion of the film, the pair confirmed there was animosity when lawsuits were launched months later.
In December 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her (Baldoni denies the accusations.)
For his part, Baldoni went on to file a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist in January, citing defamation among other claims. The couple denied the accusations. Reynolds filed to dismiss the lawsuit in court documents obtained by Us on Tuesday, March 18.
