Blake Lively drops emotional distress claims against Justin Baldoni, slams his legal team's 'press stunt'
Blake Lively has dropped two of the claims she leveled against her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni, in their contentious and highly public legal battle.
On Friday, Lively's attorneys filed a motion to withdraw and dismiss her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress, saying the move would streamline the case and focus on other claims made against Baldoni.
The filing came after Baldoni's legal team sought Lively's medical records as proof of the alleged emotional distress, requesting that the actress sign a HIPAA release providing access to her therapy notes and relevant medical information.
Lawyers for Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company doubled down Monday, filing a motion to compel the actress to share her medical records to prove that distress. Attorney Kevin Fritz said in a court filing that Lively "cannot have it both ways."
Lively's attorneys Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb slammed the move as a "press stunt" in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly.
On Tuesday, Judge Lewis J. Liman, who is overseeing Lively and Baldoni's warring lawsuits, ruled that Lively's claims of emotional distress were officially dead. Meanwhile, Baldoni's motion to compel was denied "based on Plaintiff's representation that the relevant claims will be withdrawn."
Judge Liman further stipulated that the dueling legal teams must reach an agreement about either dismissing the claims with or without prejudice — barring Lively from refiling at a later date — or she can "renew her request by formal motion," but either way, she may not offer "any evidence of emotional distress."
Lively's lawyers framed the ruling as a win, blasting the motion from the Baldoni-Wayfarer legal team as "utterly pointless."
"The court denied Wayfarer's motion," Gottlieb and Hudson said in a statement to EW. "He told the parties to continue their discussions about the technicalities of how 2 of the 15 claims will be voluntarily dismissed. Ms. Lively has offered to dismiss those claims because they are no longer necessary, and she will continue to pursue emotional distress damages through other claims in her lawsuit, including sexual harassment and retaliation."
Attorneys for Baldoni didn't immediately respond to EW's request for comment Tuesday.
The dispute between Lively and Baldoni became public in December, when she filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us and orchestrating a smear campaign against her in the aftermath.
The 80-page complaint claimed that Lively "suffered from grief, fear, trauma and extreme anxiety" because of Baldoni's alleged behavior. The complaint also named Wayfarer, IEWU producer Jamey Heath, and others as defendants.
"Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Heath, and Wayfarer engaged in harassing conduct and failed their obligations to investigate complaints of workplace harassment, to prevent inappropriate and harassing behaviors on set, and to provide avenues for cast and crew members to safely raise concerns to neutral parties so that they could be investigated and appropriately addressed," the complaint said.Lively subsequently filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and Wayfarer in New York federal court, and Baldoni countersued, accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of hijacking It Ends With Us and waging a smear campaign against him. Baldoni has alleged defamation, civil extortion, and breach of contract.
The two lawsuits are slated to go to trial in March.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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