After a monthslong chess match withBlake Lively'slawyers,Justin Baldoni'slegal team is aiming to wipe the board clean.
Baldoni'slead counsel, Alexandra Shapiro, filed a motion on Nov. 12 for summary judgment. The move aims to have Lively's sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit decided in his favor without a jury trial. The legal strategy is based on the argument that neither side is contesting the facts, and that if they are all accepted as true, the law is still on the side of the petitioner – in this case,Baldoni.
Baldoni, 41, and Lively, 38,who costarred in the summer2024 blockbuster "It Ends with Us,"have been locked in a contentious court battle for nearly a year. Following a much-talked-about press tour for the film,Livelyfiled a civil rights complaint against Baldoni last December, alleging that he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct and then helped orchestrate a"smear campaign"against her in retaliation for speaking up. The complaint was followed by aformal lawsuit.
Baldoni then took legal action of his own, filing a $250 million lawsuit againstThe New York Timesfor publishing an exposé detailing Lively's claims (the complaint wasdismissed in June). He also filed acountersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for defamation, which wassimilarly tossed on Oct. 31.
Just before the latest motion,Baldoni'slegal team also filed a motion to seal both the judgment and the associated exhibits – allowing time for both sides to "confer" over any of the attached evidence that they want to remain confidential. The actor's lawyers were sure to spell out, though, that they were requesting privacy for the sake of court rules, not because the material in their view deserved it.
"To be clear, the Wayfarer Parties do not believe that much of this material should be sealed, especially to the extent it includesBlake Lively's contemporaneous communications with others about her work on the film, which are central to the dispute at hand," Shapiro wrote in a letter to the judge.
What the judge decides will either put a period at the end of one of the most talked about legal sagas in Hollywood or leave it to the trial set for March.
Blake Lively's star-studded potential witness list includes Hugh Jackman, Gigi Hadid
Baldoni's latest move follows a filing from the Lively camp that named a slew of A-listers as potential witnesses. In unsealed court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and obtained by USA TODAY Nov. 7, Lively named Reynolds, "It Ends with Us" authorColleen Hoover, pop superstarTaylor Swift, and the actress' "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" costarsAlexis Bledel,America FerreraandAmber Tamblyn. The trio issued ajoint statement supporting Livelyshortly after the actress filed her December civil rights complaint.
Other A-listers named in Lively's unsealed filing include actressEmily Blunt; actorHugh Jackman;HaimmusiciansAlana, Danielle and Este Haim; and supermodelGigi Hadid.
Blake Lively seeking over $160M inJustin Baldonilawsuit
Lively is putting a hefty price tag on her legal battle with Baldoni.
The"Gossip Girl"alum is seeking approximately $161.2 million in damages from Baldoni and his codefendants in their ongoing lawsuit, according to court documents. For economic damages, Lively is demanding "lost earnings" in an amount "not less than" $56.2 million, as well as "lost profits" totaling approximately $71 million, per the unsealed Nov. 5 filing.
With regard to her earning power, Lively claims she will lose at least $17.5 million in "lost acting and/or producing opportunities" from the August 2024 release of "It Ends with Us" through the time of her trial with Baldoni. As a businesswoman, the actress estimates her haircare brand,Blake Brown, will suffer a loss of $49 million.
Additionally, Lively is requesting approximately $34 million in reputational harm damages following Baldoni's alleged "smear campaign" against her, which purportedly includes an estimated 65 million online impressions of "defamatory statements."
Contributing: Jay Stahl, Edward Segarra and Pamela Avila, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni court battle heats up with new motion
