Both Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have reacted after a judge made a big decision on the Gossip Girl lead’s request for phone records!
Earlier on Friday, Judge Lewis Liman declared Blake’s subpoena for phone data from Justin and his other team members was “overly intrusive.” The request spanned an extremely broad timeframe for messages, from 2022 to the present. Why? This was her way of trying to locate everyone involved in the It Ends With Us director’s alleged smear campaign. But the judge thought it went too far!
Related: Justin’s Attorneys BLAST Blake For Trying To ‘Prevent The Public’ From Seeing Evidence!
The judge did agree, however, that she could request the information of the individuals she’s already identified in her complaint. This includes other Wayfarer Studios execs and Justin’s PR/crisis management staffers.
Meanwhile, Justin’s team had challenged the request, upset over the fact that Blake wanted to get the phone numbers for anyone they had communicated with, regardless if it was related to the case. The judge denied Justin’s request, too –declaring they didn’t provide enough reasoning for why Blake couldn’t request similar data from third parties. So, it was a mixed bag — though it does seem to favor Justin! Regardless, Ryan Reynolds‘ wife doesn’t seem deterred.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for the A Simple Favor star insisted they will carry on with their efforts despite this ruling — and called out Justin’s legal team and co-defendants:
“What is Bryan Freedman hiding? After promising to release all the ‘receipts,’ Freedman ran into court to keep secret the phone records of who Baldoni, [Jamey] Heath, [Steve] Sarowitz, [Melissa] Nathan, [Jed] Wallace and [Jennifer] Abel were calling during their retaliatory campaign. So, instead of getting these records from the phone carriers the way we initially requested, the judge has ruled that if we simply submit more specific requests, we will be able to get the records we are seeking. Today we will do that, we are submitting those requests directly to defendants involved and we look forward to seeing the records.”
Oof! They are not backing down! But while they sounded a little… fiery maybe? Justin’s lawyer Bryan was more confident, telling the outlet:
“The Court put a stop to Ms. Lively’s egregious attempt to invade our clients’ privacy. This is a big win. No matter how the Lively Parties may try to spin this decision, the Court saw their efforts for what they really are: a desperate fishing expedition intended to salvage their debunked claims long after they already savaged our clients’ reputations in the New York Times.”
Clearly, neither side is giving up the fight. It’ll be interesting to see what — if any — info Blake eventually gets through her revised requests!
Thoughts? Share them in the comments (below).
[Image via CBS/YouTube & Phil Lewis/WENN]
