A judge ruled Wednesday that Justin Baldoni can obtain messages between Blake Lively and Taylor Swift that pertain to “It Ends With Us” and the legal melee between the film’s co-stars.
Lively had asked Judge Lewis Liman to prevent Baldoni from obtaining such messages, arguing that Baldoni was dragging Swift into the conflict as part of a public relations strategy.
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But in his order on Wednesday, Liman found that such messages may be relevant to the case, and that a protective order is in place to prevent them from leaking to the press.
“A motion or request may be, and in this case often has been, both a legitimate litigation tactic and an attempt to maneuver in the broader court of public opinion,” the judge wrote.
Baldoni’s team previously subpoenaed Swift and her attorneys. At the time, Swift’s spokesman issued a statement saying that Swift had nothing to do with the film beyond licensing a song, and had not even seen it until weeks after its release.
Swift’s team moved to quash the subpoenas, and Baldoni’s side withdrew them. Lively’s team then sought to close off the issue once and for all, arguing that Swift is irrelevant to the case.
But the judge was not persuaded of that.
“Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims,” the judge wrote.
Lively sued Baldoni and his publicists in December, arguing that they had secretly smeared her online and in the press for raising complaints about sexual harassment on the set of the film. Baldoni’s countersuit, accusing her of smearing him, was dismissed last week.
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