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 ways to silence her sexual harassment claims.

On Thursday, Blake Energetic 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 Energetic, but additionally her husband Ryan Reynolds and longtime publicist Leslie Sloane. He additionally took authorized purpose 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 a press release to Us Weekly, Energetic’s attorneys wrote:

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

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

The remarks accompanied a brand new reply transient filed on Energetic’s behalf, which contends that Baldoni’s claims are usually not solely meritless but additionally legally time-barred.

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

This newest volley comes only a week after Baldoni accused Energetic 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 “spoil 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.

Energetic’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 option to the rights of perpetrators to sue their victims ‘into oblivion.’”

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

In response, Freedman pushed again in a press release to Daily Mail, saying:

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

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