Blake Lively reportedly filed a “super shady” lawsuit before publicly accusing her “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment in her complaint.
The lawsuit was filed in September with the “Gossip Girl” alum’s company Vanzan as the plaintiff in an attempt to subpoena allegedly incriminating text messages from Baldoni’s now-ex PR team without Lively’s name being attached, according to the Daily Mail.
The “Jane the Virgin” alum’s former publicist Stephanie Jones and her company, Jonesworks, received a subpoena requesting all documents and communications regarding Baldoni, Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Jones reportedly turned over private messages between former staffer Jennifer Abel, who continued working with Baldoni, and PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan.
The messages have since been used by Lively’s legal team as the basis for claims that Baldoni, Nathan and Abel orchestrated a smear campaign against the “Another Simple Favor” actress, 37, while promoting “It Ends With Us” in August 2024.
An alleged text from Nathan read, “We can bury anyone.”
The lawsuit, however, was withdrawn on Dec. 19, 2024, a few days before Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment in a complaint filed with the California Civil Rights Department.
A legal expert referred to the tactic as “super shady” while speaking to the Daily Mail. “They intentionally did this to really work in a very surreptitious and clandestine way,” attorney Ron Zambrano, who has no relation to the case, claimed to the outlet.
Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman also slammed the lawsuit as a “sham” in a statement to Page Six.
“Ms. Lively’s and Mr. Reynolds’ company Vanzan had nothing to do with this case and they knew it,” Freedman said.
“This sham lawsuit was designed to obtain subpoena power without oversight or scrutiny, and in doing so denied my clients the ability to contest the propriety, nature, and scope of the subpoena.
“There is nothing normal about this. Officers of the court have a duty of candor to the court and an obligation not to file fictitious lawsuits that have no basis in fact or law. … This was done in bad faith and constitutes a flagrant abuse of process.”
Lively’s legal team, however, denied any wrongdoing.
“There is nothing untoward here — just conscientious and thorough investigation,” her attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb said in a statement to Deadline.
“The Lively parties acted upon reliable information, and employed common tools such as Doe lawsuits and civil subpoenas that are entirely lawful and appropriate for pursuing claims and uncovering the identity of unknown perpetrators of unlawful activities,” they continued.
“This lawsuit unearthed the Wayfarer Parties’ documented plan — in their own words, in their own text messages — to ‘destroy’ Blake Lively, a plan which they executed without transparency, disclosure, or notice to Ms. Lively or the public, instead acting in a way they thought would be ‘untraceable.’
“We have absolutely nothing to hide — Ms. Lively voluntarily disclosed the subpoena in her first filing knowing that it would ultimately be produced to the Wayfarer Parties in discovery, and that is precisely what will happen as Ms. Lively’s claims move forward in the proper litigation process.”
Reps for Lively and Baldoni weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.
The “Age of Adaline” star filed her complaint on Dec. 21, 2024, accusing the actor/director of sexual harassment and attempting to ruin her career after their work on the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel based on domestic violence.
Lively filed a formal lawsuit on Dec. 31. Baldoni denied all the allegations against him.
In January, he filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, 48, which the couple has attempted to get dismissed.
The post Blake Lively made ‘super shady’ legal move months before accusing Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment: report appeared first on Page Six.
