It nonetheless doesn’t finish right here.
Blake Vigorous and Ryan Reynolds revealed they may transfer to dismiss Justin Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit, informing a federal decide of the choice on Thursday, reported Selection.
Vigorous, 37, sued Baldoni, 41 — who’s additionally her co-star and director of “It Ends With Us” — for $250 million, claiming he sexually harassed her whereas filming and launched a smear marketing campaign when she spoke out about her alleged therapy. Baldoni denied her accusations.
He and his publicists countered Vigorous for $400 million, alleging she defamed them. Additionally they alleged that Vigorous and her well-known husband, Ryan Reynolds, pressured the high-powered expertise company WME to drop Baldoni as a consumer — an accusation WME denied.
The “Gossip Girl” alum and Reynolds’ authorized group allegedly filed the discover on Thursday, per Choose Lewis Liman’s order this week, during which he knowledgeable them that he plans to “consolidate” the separate lawsuits.
The decide will later set a deadline for the movement to be filed.
“The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint,” the Hollywood energy couple’s lawyer, Michael J. Gottlieb, revealed within the alleged submitting.
Vigorous’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, is claimed to have filed an identical discover on Wednesday, as she, too, was named as a defendant in Baldoni’s lawsuit.
Attorneys on either side reportedly indicated they haven’t any objection to merging the 2 federal circumstances into one continuing.
The Put up has reached out to Vigorous and Baldoni’s attorneys for remark.
Each the actress and the director’s attorneys are due in court docket on Monday, February 3, marking their first listening to relating to the “It Ends With Us” drama.
On the listening to, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman’s alleged extrajudicial conduct will take heart stage after Vigorous’s attorneys claimed he’s making prejudicial feedback within the media and, in flip, is reporting tainting the jury pool.
Nonetheless, Freedman fought again, countering that he had each proper to defend his consumer publicly following Vigorous and her group’s alleged “attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”
Baldoni’s authorized group allegedly revealed on Thursday night time that they want Vigorous’s deposition to occur as quickly as attainable, claiming the “It Ends With Us” starlet has indicated she’ll refuse to let Freedman do the questioning resulting from “unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman.”
“We are unaware of any situation that would warrant the deposed party to have a choice in which attorney takes her deposition,” one other one in all Baldoni’s attorneys, Kevin Fritz, allegedly knowledgeable the decide. “Parties to litigation simply do not have the right to dictate which of their opponents’ attorneys may or may not take their deposition or perform any other aspect of the opposing party’s case.”
He’s asking for the deposition problem to be addressed throughout Monday’s listening to.
The endless authorized battle just lately obtained a trial date.
Vigorous and Baldoni are headed to trial on March 9, 2026.
