Justin Baldoni’s team called out Blake Lively’s attempt to dismiss the actor’s lawsuit.
Lively asked the court to dismiss Baldoni’s lawsuit, which accuses the “Gossip Girl” star of retaliation and defamation, in a motion filed Thursday.
“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,” Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told Fox News Digital in a 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.”
“As we said [March 19] 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,” his statement concluded.
BLAKE LIVELY SLAMS JUSTIN BALDONI’S ‘SINISTER CAMPAIGN’ AGAINST HER, DEMANDS LAWSUIT BE DISMISSED
Justin Baldoni’s team responded to Blake Lively’s motion to dismiss the actor’s $400 million lawsuit against her. (Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to Lively’s team for comment.
Lively’s legal team claimed Baldoni used his $400 million lawsuit as a “blunt public relations instrument” designed to further the actor’s “sinister campaign” to destroy his “It Ends With Us” co-star’s reputation, according to the court docs obtained by Fox News Digital.
Baldoni originally sued Lively for retaliation and defamation after the actress accused him of sexually harassing her while filming the movie based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name.
“This lawsuit is a profound abuse of the legal process that has no place in federal court,” Lively’s lawyers, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said in a statement previously shared with Fox News Digital.
“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. 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 billionaire Steve Sarowitz, 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.”
Justin Baldoni starred as Ryle Kincaid in “It Ends With Us.” (Gotham/GC Images)
BLAKE LIVELY VS. JUSTIN BALDONI: EVERYTHING TO KNOW
Blake Lively starred as Lily Bloom in “It Ends With Us.” (Nancy Rivera/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Lively and Baldoni have been locked in a back-and-forth legal battle with no end in sight. After each filed their respective lawsuits against the other, the two have shown no signs of settling outside of court.
Legal teams for both Lively and Baldoni told Judge Lewis Liman that “settlement discussions would be premature” in a joint letter filed in court in February and obtained by Fox News Digital. The letter also noted that “the parties agree that mediation and the Discovery Protocols . . . are inappropriate for this case.”
The federal judge agreed with the “It Ends With Us” stars and granted the order. The trial is currently set to begin in 2026.
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Blake Lively accused Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment in a civil rights complaint and a federal lawsuit. (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images, Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In December, Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional affliction of emotional distress, negligence and more against Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights department and later in federal court.
Baldoni, in his own lawsuit filed in January, insisted that Lively had “falsely” accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation following the fallout of the movie’s press tour after the actress took control of the film. Baldoni’s legal team claimed that Lively had no evidence of a deliberate smear campaign and had instead worked to repair her reputation by accusing the actor and others of sexual harassment.
Lively then filed her amended complaint on Feb. 18, claiming that two female cast members were willing to testify to the “unwelcome behavior” Baldoni had exhibited on set. However, Baldoni’s lawyer slammed the new version of the lawsuit as “unsubstantial hearsay.”
WATCH: THE LEGAL BATTLE BETWEEN BLAKE LIVELY, JUSTIN BALDONI WILL LIKELY GET ‘UGLIER,’ ATTORNEY SAYS
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Now, Lively’s legal team has requested Baldoni’s lawsuit be dismissed.
“In short, nothing in the FAC [first amended complaint] resembles an actionable legal claim. It is, instead, a blunt public relations instrument designed to further the Wayfarer Parties’ sinister campaign to ‘bury’ and ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively for speaking out about sexual harassment and retaliation,” the lawsuit read.
“The Court should dismiss the FAC and – as required by California law – hold further proceedings to calculate an appropriate award of Ms. Lively’s attorneys’ fees, treble damages for the harm this meritless lawsuit has inflicted on her, and punitive damages against each of the Wayfarer Parties.”
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