NEED TO KNOW
It Ends with Us actress Isabela Ferrer has filed a rebuttal to Justin Baldoni’s subpoena
Ferrer was first involved in the case when Lively subpoenaed her after filing her sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni
Baldoni’s subpoena and subsequent motion “are transparent efforts to exert pressure” on Ferrer, her lawyers claim
It Ends with Us actress Isabela Ferrer is accusing her director Justin Baldoni of “harassing” her for communications relevant to his dispute with Blake Lively.
Following Baldoni’s subpoena of Ferrer, 24, related to the case, his lawyers filed a motion on Aug. 12 claiming that she has been unreachable and unresponsive. Lawyers for Ferrer have now filed a rebuttal, claiming that Baldoni, 41, has “engaged in bad faith tactics” and filed his motion “for improper purposes and with the aim of harassing” Ferrer.
The actress, who played the younger version of Lively’s character Lily in the hit Colleen Hoover adaptation, has asked the court to both deny Baldoni’s motion and impose sanctions on him.
PEOPLE has reached out to Baldoni’s lawyers for comment.
Lively, 37, served Ferrer a subpoena in February for communication relevant to the producer-star’s dispute with Baldoni. Last December, the Gossip Girl actress filed a sexual-harassment complaint against the Jane the Virgin alum, alleging misconduct and a retaliatory smear campaign, which Baldoni and his collaborators have denied.
Jojo Whilden/Sony
Alex Neustaedter and Isabela Ferrer in ‘It Ends with Us’
In connection with Lively’s subpoena, Ferrer invoked an indemnification clause in her It Ends with Us acting contract with Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios at It Ends With Us Movie, LLC, requiring them to pay their employee’s legal fees.
“It Ends, LLC has not honored its obligations,” Ferrer’s team alleges in their new motion. They claim that Wayfarer Studios agreed to indemnify the actress on the “serious” condition that Ferrer “confirm that she will ‘surrender control’” of her response, “not actually allowing Ms. Ferrer to provide the documents that reveal the true facts.”
After Ferrer submitted her relevant It Ends with Us communications in response to Lively’s subpoena, Baldoni and his collaborators have “been improperly attempting to exert control over” her, including with the new subpoena that, Ferrer’s lawyers claim, overlaps significantly with Lively’s. “Baldoni made no effort to tailor the subpoena towards the production of new or different materials, demonstrating that the real aim of the Baldoni Subpoena, as well as the pending Motion, is to harass Ms. Ferrer.”
Baldoni’s subpoena and motion, it continues, “are transparent efforts to exert pressure on Ms. Ferrer,” including by publicly disseminating home “addresses that could have been Ms. Ferrer’s home. This sort of conduct from Baldoni is not new.”
Araya Doheny/Variety via Getty; Lia Toby/Getty, Taylor Hill/WireImage
(Left-right:) Justin Baldoni; Blake Lively; Isabela Ferrer
Furthermore, they claim, the delayed negotiation over Ferrer’s indemnity is a “transparent attempt to put financial pressure on” the actress. “Ferrer sought reasonable extensions of time from Lively to respond to the Lively Subpoena until the indemnity issue was resolved.”
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In his since-dismissed $400 million countersuit in January filed against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, Baldoni had accused his fellow producer-star of telling Ferrer to “shun” him “in an early attempt to give fans the impression that Baldoni had committed an egregious sin.” In August 2024 amid the release of It Ends with Us, Ferrer and other costars reportedly unfollowed Baldoni on social media and did not appear with him during the movie’s promotion and premiere events.
Both cases in Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. are scheduled for trial in March 2026.
Read the original article on People
