Today, the first hearing in the defamation case between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will take place in the United States. The parties will argue about the disclosure of legal materials and the possibility of questioning Lively by Baldoni's lawyer. The case is gaining momentum, and Judge Lyman has to make key decisions, UNN reports with reference to DailyMail.
Details
Attorneys for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will meet in federal court on Monday to begin a $400 million defamation lawsuit. According to information close to Baldoni's team, they did not violate any rules by posting previously unavailable legal materials online.
The co-stars of the film Leave Me If You Love are not required to attend the pre-trial conference in New York, which will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will be the first stage of their legal battle.
The situation is complicated by the unexpected appearance of another influential lawyer, Sigrid McCauley, who is known for her involvement in the cases of Jeffrey Epstein's victims. On Sunday evening, it became known that she would represent the interests of Lively's publicist and co-defendant Leslie Sloan, who is accused of conspiring to discredit Baldoni.
The legal teams will argue over several key issues, including Lively's request for gag orders and her alleged refusal to depose Baldoni's lead attorney, Brian Friedman, as she is outraged by Friedman's remarks, which she calls "offensive and oppressive," and is seeking a gag order from Judge Lewis Lyman barring him from commenting on the case in the media.
The tension escalated after Baldoni's team created the website Thelawsuitinfo.com on Saturday, where they published new details of the case and a timeline of events that led to the conflict.
Among the documents released are private correspondence between Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Baldoni. In the messages, Reynolds initially expressed admiration for the cooperation between his wife and Baldoni:
"I'm thrilled that Blake will be opening up his creative treasure trove with someone as dynamic as you... I adore you, Justin.
Another message from Lively to Baldoni while discussing the script for a key scene contains a frank and flirtatious tone:
"If you knew me (personally) for longer, you would realize how flirty and delicious balloon-busting is. It's my love language.
It is not yet known how Judge Lewis Lyman, appointed by Trump, will assess the publication of the materials, but Justin Baldoni's team insists that all the published documents are official court records that are already available for public viewing through the government's Pacer website.
"This is not an attempt to provoke a conflict, but rather a demonstration of the transparency of Justin and his team," the source told DailyMail. According to him, the website Thelawsuitinfo.com was created solely to provide the public with access to legal documents that are already in the public domain.
In addition, Judge Lyman is to rule on whether Brian Friedman, an experienced show business attorney, can depose Blake Lively. Friedman has previously represented clients such as Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Julia Roberts, and is now representing Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios.
The lawyers for Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, have objected to the interrogation to be conducted by Friedman. In a Friday address to the court, Baldoni's lawyer Kevin Fritz said:
"Ms. Lively's representatives object to Wayfarer Studios' general counsel questioning her in person, citing vague statements made by Mr. Friedman."
The court will have to decide whether this motion will be granted or whether Blake Lively will still have to answer Friedman's questions in the trial.
Recall
The scandal surrounding Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is gaining momentum: the actress and her husband Ryan Reynolds filed a legal request against Baldoni's lawyer after a video from the set of the movie Leave Me If You Love Me was published.