Blake Lively‘s lawyers filed a motion on Monday seeking sanctions against Justin Baldoni‘s team, accusing his lawyers and collaborators of making “frivolous claims” about the actress.
In the filing obtained by Rolling Stone, Lively requests “sanctions in the form of attorneys’ fees and costs” incurred by the actress, as well as “a formal reprimand for the filing of baseless claims as a means of harassing Ms. Lively and gaining favor in the court of public opinion.” Lively’s motion named Steve Sarowitz, Jamey Heath, Melissa Nathan, Jennifer Abel, and their legal teams.
Lively’s attorneys denounced the “ghoulish taunt” made by her It Ends With Us co-star’s team earlier this month, referring to Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman’s suggestion in a statement to People to hold Lively’s upcoming deposition at Madison Square Garden and “sell tickets or stream it.”
Her attorneys also pointed out that Freedman previously “filed two letters and an affidavit so inflammatory and improper that they were stricken from the record,” further accusing Baldoni’s lawyer of “repeatedly used the press to target Ms. Lively.” The motion referred to Freedman’s claim last week that the actress’ legal team had attempted to extort a public statement out of Taylor Swift amid the ongoing legal battle between Lively and Baldoni.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb said, “If you want to know why Justin Baldoni’s lawyer pulled his latest inflammatory and defamatory media stunt, it might be because he knew that both he and his clients were about to be hit with sanctions motions based on his reckless decision to file multiple frivolous claims in federal court.”
The lawyers added: “You can’t file lawsuits in federal court that have no basis in law or fact to create a harassing media narrative, or in other words, their strategy from day one. The Baldoni legal team received notice of their sanctionable behavior weeks ago, but doubled down rather than withdrawing their frivolous and harassing claims. Now they’ll face the consequences of treating federal court like a media playground.”
A representative for Baldoni did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
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Lively and Baldoni have been entangled in a legal feud since December, when Lively sued him for alleged sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us and a smear campaign. Baldoni has since denied the allegations and countersued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist, alleging civil extortion and defamation. Lively’s case will go to trial in March 2026.
A subpoena recently roped Swift into the legal drama. The singer’s spokesperson slammed the subpoena, telling Rolling Stone at the time that Swift’s connection to the It Ends With Us controversy was limited to licensing one song. Lawyers for Swift asked the court to throw out the subpoena, calling it an “abuse of the discovery process” meant to distract from the case.
From Rolling Stone US
