Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni‘s lawsuit just took a dramatic tune — and it actually has nothing to do with them directly!
As we all know, the It Ends With Us stars have been battling it out in court over allegations of sexual harassment, orchestrating a smear campaign, and much more. Members of their respective inner circles, such as Justin’s PR team and Blake’s hubby Ryan Reynolds, have also been dragged into the legal drama. It’s among some of these folks that s**t is hitting the fan!
Related: Justin Shows Off Dramatic New Hairdo Amid Blake Lively Drama! LOOK!
Last week, Justin made waves by suing his ex-publicist Stephanie Jones, who runs the PR firm Jonesworks. Essentially, he accused her of starting this whole drama by “maliciously” leaking private information and text messages to Blake’s publicist Leslie Sloane. These texts came from Stephanie’s former employee Jennifer Abel, who worked closely with Justin and Wayfarer, until she was fired just two days before she’d already given her final date of employment amid plans to start her own firm.
Jennifer and Justin have been arguing that Stephanie was in the wrong — after she already sued them. It seemed like this was as messy as this part of the drama was going to get… but it turns out that’s not the case at all. Jennifer just filed an even MORE damning legal filing that could totally shake up this entire legal saga!
On Thursday, Jennifer filed paperwork detailing her answer to Blake’s First Amended Complaint as well as a Third-Party Complaint against Jonesworks! The paperwork went largely unnoticed because it came out at the same time as the other lawsuit drama, which certainly seemed more pressing. However, this is a big deal!
Her response to the amended complaint was pretty typical as she hit back at the allegations made against her. However, the third-party complaint is what could really shake things up. Basically, she’s trying to drag Stephanie into the main lawsuit between Blake and Justin. Why do this? Because Jennifer’s arguing Stephanie should be on the hook for any legal fees she’s forced to pay!!
In the filing, Jennifer’s lawyers argue that Stephanie, as Jennifer’s boss, pulled Jennifer into this mess and should therefore be responsible for any bills related to the case. Bryan Freedman and co. explained:
“Abel was named as a defendant in Plaintiff [Lively]’s pleadings solely because of, and in direct consequence of, Abel’s discharge of her duties to Jonesworks, or of her obedience to the directions of Jonesworks.”
It continued:
“All of the acts, inaction, and other conduct of Abel alleged in the Amended Complaint and in support of Plaintiff’s Claims were performed, if at all, by Abel as solely part of the discharge of her duties to Jonesworks, or of her obedience to the directions of Jonesworks.”
Citing California Labor Code Section 2802(a) and (c), she pointed out “an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer, even though unlawful, unless the employee, at the time of obeying the directions, believed them to be unlawful.” It also dictates that “the term ‘necessary expenditures or losses’ shall include all reasonable costs, including, but not limited to, attorney’s fees incurred.”
Whoa!
She wants Stephanie to take the financial fall for her in court! Damn!
But there’s another interesting twist, too. According to the lawyer @notactuallygolden on TikTok, Jennifer also asked the court to issue a summons. Apparently, once Stephanie Jones is served, she’ll become a party in the Lively-Baldoni case and neither side would need to get a subpoena to get documents from her! She would be forced to hand over whatever information is requested. Wow!!
So, this could also be a sneaky way to get info — and it could potentially be great for Justin depending on what kind of evidence they’re looking for considering he’s accusing Blake of defaming him by using texts from his ex-publicist to “concoct a false narrative” that he was running a smear campaign. Seems like he could now have a way easier time getting his hands on necessary evidence! It could also lead to Justin and Jennifer requesting a judge to consolidate all the cases involving Stephanie into one big battle. Kinda wild!
To hear a simple run-down of the implications of this filing, listen below:
@notactuallygolden ????????????
Thoughts??
[Image via Cosmopolitan UK/YouTube & Phil Lewis/WENN]
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