Sham Lawsuit

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Today brings fresh developments in the ongoing legal dispute between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, famously known as the It Ends With Us saga. In a recent turn of events, information has emerged from the Baldoni camp suggesting that Lively obtained Stephanie Jones’ cell phone records, who is the CEO of Jonesworks (a PR firm), through a lawsuit filed under a pseudonym using one of her companies, Vanzan. This move was made on September 27, 2024, when a subpoena was served to access Baldoni’s communications with his public relations representatives, Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, who were then employed by Jonesworks but later established their own firm. Now, Baldoni’s legal team is taking action in response to this revelation.

According to a recent statement from Deadline, Bryan Freedman, who represents Dwayne Johnson (also known for employing the Doe suit strategy), termed the entire situation as a “fraudulent scheme” or “deception.

In the case at hand, Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds’ firm, Vanzan, played no role whatsoever, yet they were fully aware of this fact. The baseless lawsuit filed against them served only to gain subpoena power without supervision or examination, thereby preventing my clients from challenging the legitimacy, nature, and extent of the subpoena. This is far from standard procedure. Court officers are obligated to be truthful to the court and refrain from filing false lawsuits without merit. Since this suit claimed a breach of contract against an unidentified party with no ties to these proceedings, it falls short of legitimate claims. This action was carried out in bad faith and represents a gross misuse of legal process.

As stated in a grievance lodged by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, who are among the legal representatives for Lively, Reynolds, and their public relations head, Leslie Sloane, there is an issue at hand.

The parties named in the DOE have actively worked against these agreements and may be involved in actions intended to harm the Plaintiff. These actions include neglecting the Plaintiff’s best interests, making decisions that benefit them while hurting the Plaintiff, withholding communication about matters relevant to the Plaintiff’s business and reputation, and disclosing private information about the Plaintiff to third parties without maintaining confidentiality.

Curious to know more? Keep reading!

The Justin Baldoni/Blake Lively Lawsuit Is Never Going To End, Is It?

Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, Lively’s lead attorneys, don’t suspect any wrongdoing with their client. Instead, they view the Vanzan lawsuit as a means to delve deeper into the issue at hand. As they put it to Deadline, “There’s nothing suspicious going on here — just meticulous and comprehensive investigation. The Lively team took action based on credible information and used standard legal tools like Doe lawsuits and civil subpoenas for the purpose of advancing claims and discovering the identities of individuals involved in unlawful activities, which are entirely legitimate and suitable.

The lawsuit revealed a written strategy by the Wayfarer Parties, which they themselves expressed through their documents and text messages, aiming to ‘undermine’ Blake Lively. This clandestine scheme was carried out without providing transparency, disclosure, or notification to Ms. Lively or the public, as they believed it would be untraceable. However, we are fully transparent – Ms. Lively chose to publicly disclose the subpoena in her initial filing, understanding that it would eventually be shared with the Wayfarer Parties during the discovery phase, and this is exactly what will occur as Ms. Lively’s case progresses through the appropriate legal process.

It appears we’ve emphasized this point numerous times, but let me make it clear: this legal dispute is unlikely to reach a courtroom resolution soon. The ongoing back-and-forth between the public relations representatives is far from fading away.

Deadline

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2025-04-22 20:38