Blake Lively hits back hard, moves to sanction Justin Baldoni's team over explosive and improper Taylor Swift extortion claims

Economic Times

23-05-2025

Blake Lively is taking legal action against Justin Baldoni's team, alleging they falsely accused her of trying to extort Taylor Swift. Lively's legal team claims these accusations are baseless and intended to smear her reputation. She's also seeking records related to alleged harassment during the "It Ends With Us" shoot, claiming the investigation was delayed and biased.
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Why is Blake Lively calling the accusations 'wilfully improper'?
What are the details of the legal motion Blake Lively filed?
Why does Lively claim the investigation wasn't handled properly?
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What did the judge say about the letter from Baldoni's team?
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Tensions are escalating between Blake Lively and her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni Blake Lively is seeking legal action against Justin Baldoni's legal team for making a false claim about Taylor Swift.Following their letter last week alleging that her team attempted to extort Taylor Swift in return for her public support, Blake Lively filed a motion Monday to sanction her "It Ends With Us" co-star and director Justin Baldoni and his team, as per a report by The Wrap.She has filed for sanctions in response to what she describes as a "wilfully improper" accusation against Taylor Swift.Mike Gottlieb, Blake's lawyer, swiftly retorted in a statement that all of these alleged accusations are categorically denied by us; they are utterly disconnected from reality and cowardly attributed to purportedly anonymous sources, as per a report by The Wrap.Her legal team claims the allegations are baseless and intended to smear her publicly.Representatives for the actress claim that claims made by Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman have "no reasonable basis in law and clearly were brought for an improper purpose" and that they were filed as a "obvious" means of "sowing harassing media narratives against Ms. Lively."The 30-page motion was filed Monday in New York's Southern District Court.The court filing stated, "These public attacks, along with the Rule 11 Plaintiffs' numerous claims against Ms. Lively that have no legal or factual basis, are wilfully improper and warrant sanctions,' as per a report by The Wrap.The actress' legal team filed a second motion on Monday to obtain documents related to the "It Ends With Us" probe into the alleged sexual harassment and retaliation campaign of its filmmakers.On Lively's "Fourth Set of Requests for Production," Lively's team filed a letter motion to "compel" Wayfarer Studios and the "It Ends With Us" film to produce materials. The motion sought witness recordings and documents from Wayfarer's "alleged 'neutral' workplace investigation into Lively's sexual harassment and retaliation claims.""When Ms. Lively first expressed her concerns in May 2023, Wayfarer failed to look into them, even though it was legally required to do so," the four-page letter sent to Judge Lewis J. Liman stated."She may have also been spared the retaliatory smear campaign by Wayfarer and its Co-Defendants if her complaints had been promptly investigated, as required by law," the letter continued.Rather, Wayfarer put off starting this investigation for years, until late January 2025. Wayfarer had already publicly and vehemently refuted Ms. Lively's claims by then, and she and a number of other people were sued for $400 million for making the same claims that are currently the focus of this "neutral" investigation.Furthermore, in widely reported media interviews by January, its attorney had repeatedly accused Ms. Lively of lying.The requested investigation items were described as "highly relevant" and required to "ensure that witness engagement has been proper and has been put at issues by Wayfarer" by Lively's team at the end of the letter.Lively's lawyers moved to have the letter removed from the court's records on Thursday, and their request was approved."It took the court less than 24 hours to see through Mr. Freedman's irrelevant, improper, and inflammatory accusations, strike them, remove them from the court, and warn Mr. Freedman that further misconduct may be met with sanctions," a spokesperson at the time said in a statement.The letter's only goal is to "promote public scandal" by making baseless accusations against Lively and her attorney based on knowledge and belief.According to Lively's legal team, Baldoni's lawyers falsely accused her of attempting to extort Taylor Swift, describing the claims as legally baseless and intended to harm her reputation. She is now asking the court to sanction them for what she calls a "harassing media narrative."Lively claims she faced sexual harassment and retaliation while filming and calls the production's late and allegedly biased investigation a "charade." She wants documents and recordings to show that her concerns were ignored and that the investigation was not truly objective.