Judge calls Blake Lively's subpoenas for Justin Baldoni's phone records 'overly intrusive'
A judge sided with Justin Baldoni in a phone records fight amid his legal battle with Blake Lively.
Lively sought to subpoena Baldoni and his associates' phone records going back to 2022.
The judge called the subpoenas "overly intrusive and disproportionate to the needs of the case."
Justin Baldoni scored a win in his fight to keep his phone records out of the ongoing legal battle with his "It Ends With Us" costar Blake Lively.
The Manhattan federal judge overseeing Lively's sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni and Baldoni's defamation countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, ruled Friday that Lively cannot subpoena Baldoni and his associates' phone records going back to 2022.
In a written order, US District Judge Lewis Litman called Lively's subpoenas for the phone data "overly intrusive and disproportionate to the needs of the case."
"Lively mainly argues that the Subpoenas will help to identify 'the larger network of individuals' who perpetuated a negative media campaign against her," the judge wrote. "But according to Lively's complaint, this negative campaign did not begin until approximately August 2024."
"It is therefore unclear how communications to and from" Baldoni and his associates "in 2022 and 2023 would reveal individuals who participated in the campaign," Litman wrote.
Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, hailed the judge's order as a "big win" for his client in a statement to Business Insider.
"The Court put a stop to Ms. Lively's egregious attempt to invade our clients' privacy," Freedman said, adding, "No matter how the Lively Parties may try to spin this decision, the Court saw their efforts for what they really are: a desperate fishing expedition intended to salvage their debunked claims long after they already savaged our clients' reputations in the New York Times."
A spokesperson for Lively questioned what Freedman is "hiding" in a statement to BI.
"After promising to release all the 'receipts,' Freedman ran into court to keep secret the phone records of who" Baldoni and the co-defendants named in Lively's suit, "were calling during their retaliatory campaign" against Lively, the spokesperson said.
"So, instead of getting these records from the phone carriers the way we initially requested, the judge has ruled that if we simply submit more specific requests, we will be able to get the records we are seeking. Today we will do that, we are submitting those requests directly to defendants involved and we look forward to seeing the records," the spokesperson said.
Lively's legal team first issued subpoenas earlier this month to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile for incoming and outgoing calls or texts messages going back to December 2022, but Baldoni's team quickly tried to block it. Lively narrowed the scope of those subpoenas, but Baldoni's team said it didn't go far enough.
The judge agreed, saying in his Friday ruling that the subpoenas issued by Lively's lawyers "implicates legitimate privacy interests."
Litman wrote that even though Lively has adjusted her requests "the phone records themselves would still contain sensitive information regarding which doctors, psychologists, or even acquaintances" Baldoni and his co-defendants "spoke to, and when."
Lively's lawsuit accuses Baldoni, who is also the director of "It Ends With Us," of sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 movie and of engaging in a retaliatory online smear campaign against her. Baldoni has denied the allegations.
The judge noted in his ruling that Lively's complaint already identifies "many individuals who allegedly participated in a negative media campaign."
Litman wrote that Lively's legal team "may make discovery requests tailored to those individuals" and that Lively "is permitted to use the tools of discovery to identify the contact information or telephone numbers for those individuals."
"Even assuming additional individuals participated in the alleged campaign, the hope that discovery will turn up information on such participants does not justify the broad scope of the Subpoenas," Litman wrote.
Though Litman ordered that the subpoenas "must be quashed to the extent they seek the phone records" of Baldoni and his codefendants — which include his production company, Wayfarer Studios, his fellow producers, and his publicists — the judge denied Baldoni's motion involving the portions of the subpoenas that seek the phone records of people not named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Baldoni's attorneys told the judge in a Friday letter that the subpoenas seek the phone records of employees of Wayfarer Studios.
"The Wayfarer Employees object to the Subpoenas for the same reasons set forth by the Wayfarer Parties," the letter read.
Litman ordered that Lively's legal team respond by March 4, saying no action would be taken while the motion is pending.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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