Blake Lively Accuses Justin Baldoni Of Ruthless Tactics

37-year-old actress Blake Lively is doubling down in her ongoing authorized conflict in opposition to “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni, accusing him of utilizing aggressive litigation techniques to silence her sexual harassment claims.

On Thursday, Blake Full of life and her authorized group issued a fiery new assertion, condemning Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit as a retaliatory assault on her proper to talk out.

In response, Baldoni filed a sweeping defamation swimsuit not solely in opposition to Full of life, but in addition her husband Ryan Reynolds and longtime publicist Leslie Sloane. He additionally took authorized goal at The New York Occasions, submitting a separate $250 million libel swimsuit over its reporting on the case.

All events named in Baldoni’s lawsuits have denied the allegations.

In an announcement to Us Weekly, Full of life’s attorneys wrote:

“Mr. Baldoni has gone from monetizing a model dedicated to believing and supporting ladies, to main the cost to tear down the very legislation that protects ladies who come ahead about sexual assault, harassment and discrimination.”

They cited California’s AB 933 statute, a sexual harassment privilege legislation meant to stop perpetrators from utilizing defamation fits to silence victims. “The chilling message scorched earth litigation sends to victims is keep silent or be destroyed,” Full of life’s group said.

The remarks accompanied a brand new reply temporary filed on Full of life’s behalf, which contends that Baldoni’s claims usually are not solely meritless but in addition legally time-barred.

“The Wayfarer Events’ try and slap Ms. Full of life with a retaliatory lawsuit… has not solely failed miserably however exposes them to substantial financial damages,” the temporary learn. “Ms. Full of life will proceed to indicate all victims that they aren’t alone, that they don’t have to remain silent, and that the legislation is on their facet.”

This newest volley comes only a week after Baldoni accused Full of life of staging a public relations stunt to undermine his profession. He argued that her attempt to dismiss the defamation suit, filed March 20, was a calculated effort to “damage the reputations and careers of the Wayfarer events.”

In his personal submitting, Baldoni defended his lawsuit as an train of his First Modification proper to petition the court docket.

Full of life’s attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, responded forcefully to Baldoni’s framing, telling TMZ:

“Justin Baldoni, the person who has constructed his model on supposedly talking up for victims, believes that the First Modification rights of victims of sexual assault and harassment to talk out ought to give approach to the rights of perpetrators to sue their victims ‘into oblivion.’”

Her authorized group accused Baldoni and his legal professional, Bryan Freedman, of trying to dismantle protections for victims whereas discouraging others from talking up.

In response, Freedman pushed again in an announcement to Daily Mail, saying:

“This convoluted assertion makes it abundantly clear that Ms. Full of life and group are rattled and as soon as once more resorting to creating inflammatory remarks to steer focus away from the precise info.”

Freedman went on to criticize Full of life’s previous media focus, saying it’s “shocking that Ms. Full of life and her group are immediately talking so passionately in regards to the hard-won rights of the survivor neighborhood, contemplating she sidestepped this matter for everything of the movie marketing campaign… focusing as a substitute on her hair care and alcohol merchandise.”