The ongoing legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni reached a new height after the actress’s attorneys filed a letter in the federal court, accusing Baldoni’s lawyers of “public relations
work” in hurrying to upload the 292-page draft transcript of Lively’s deposition to the public docket “on the day they received it”.
Lively’s legal team claimed there was no “conceivable legal purpose” for Baldoni’s lawyers to file the draft transcript of Lively’s deposition in its entirety as the document had “not been reviewed, corrected or finalised”. The Rhythm Section star’s lawyers argued that Baldoni’s attorneys deliberately leaked sensitive information from the deposition to the tabloid media to intensify a smear campaign against the actress.
They said the “tactic perfectly demonstrates the counsel-as-PR agent role…” In harsh language, Lively’s attorneys condemned the move as “fodder for the Wayfarer Defendants’ media campaign.” They ordered a federal judge to immediately seal the deposition transcript.
According to People, this reaction from Lively’s attorneys is in accordance with the plan Baldoni’s team has hatched. As the 37-year-old now fights to remove her deposition transcript from the public docket, Baldoni’s team just might argue Blake Lively is trying to conceal information that could be used against the actress.
The deposition in question took place on July 31 at the Manhattan office of one of Lively’s attorneys. As Deadline reports, Justin Baldoni had attended the deposition in person. While the entire session was meant to be a private affair, Lively’s lawyers were astonished that several reports about the meeting, including what Lively chose to wear that day flooded the internet in a heartbeat.
Blake Lively had initially accused Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us. The 37-year-old actress complained that Baldoni violated her boundary and deliberately kissed her for too long during the filming of intimate scenes. Per a report by the TMZ, Lively later discovered to her shock that Baldoni also fat-shamed the actress.
The Five Feet Apart actor branded the reports as false sexual harassment complaints. Alleging defamation and invasion of privacy, Justin Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist in January this year.
