Justin Baldoni scores MAJOR WIN; Judge allows director to seek Blake Lively-Taylor Swift messages amid lawsuits
In a major win for director-actor
Justin Baldoni
and his legal team, a judge has ruled in favour of giving him access to chats between
Blake Lively
and
Taylor Swift
.
The global pop star has now officially been pulled into the ongoing legal drama between the 'It Ends With Us' co-stars.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the judge ruled that Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, can pursue messages between Lively and Swift that may be 'relevant' to the ongoing lawsuits.
As reported by Deadline, Judge Liman reasoned, "Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively's harassment and retaliation claims.'
This comes after Blake asked the court to block Baldoni's team from accessing her private communications with Swift, arguing that the request was a thinly veiled attempt to use her high-profile friendship to shape a narrative outside of the courtroom. However, the judge disagreed, stating "Given that the Lively Parties have not shown the information is irrelevant or its production would be unduly burdensome, the claim that the Wayfarer Parties have dramatized the request in the press does not justify a protective order against the production of responsive documents.
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'
The Judge concluded, 'Lively's motion for a protective order is denied.'
Taylor Swift was previously subpoenaed by Baldoni's legal team but that request was later withdrawn.
Despite the court allowing Baldoni's team to move forward in seeking the messages, Lively's spokesperson pushed back strongly in a statement to TMZ, 'The Court outright denied the Wayfarer Parties' motion to compel documents from Ms. Lively, who has produced far more documents in this case than the Wayfarer Parties combined.
Further, the Court's protective order ruling rests on the Wayfarer Parties' admission that they received nothing from Taylor Swift — which is exactly the opposite of what their 'insider' claimed two weeks ago.
'
The statement continued to criticise Baldoni's legal strategy, claiming:
'We will continue to call out Baldoni's relentless efforts to exploit Ms. Swift's popularity, which from day one has been nothing more than a distraction from the serious sexual harassment and retaliation accusations he and the Wayfarer parties are facing.'
As of now, Justin Baldoni's team has not issued a public response.
The legal battle began last year when Lively accused the director of alleged sexual harassment, claims he vehemently denied. The allegations that were shared in a New York Times article gave way to a lawsuit that Blake filed against Baldoni. He followed it up with a $400 million defamation suit.
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