Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Claps Back at Blake Lively’s Plan to Testify

After Blake Lively’s lawyer revealed that she is planning to take the stand when her case against Justin Baldoni goes to trial, his lawyer Bryan Freedman is challenging her.

Freedman told TMZ, “If Blake Lively is really serious about testifying for the world to see, let's live stream it in Madison Square Garden and give the money to the domestic violence survivors."

Sources close to Lively weren’t happy with Freedman’s comment, telling the outlet that it’s a serious matter and not a publicly stunt. 

Lively’s lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb told TMZ, “This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of sexual harassment on set and the retaliation that followed. Of course she will testify."

In a recent interview with People magazine, Gottlieb discussed other possible people who could testify without naming names. He said, “There are individuals that were witnesses to or experienced misconduct that is relevant to Ms. Lively's claims. We expect their testimony, particularly about what took place on set, will come out through live witness testimony.”

Could Blake’s husband Ryan Reynolds testify? Gottlieb isn’t sure, saying that the “Deadpool” star “may or may be a fact witness.”

There have been reports that Blake and Ryan’s famous friends Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman could be subpoenaed in the case. Gottlieb noted, “It’s completely unclear what claims or defenses in the case any of these celebrities… have any relevance to at all. “This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of sexual harassment on the set. It’s not a case about how songs were chosen for the movie. It’s not a case about fictional Marvel characters in ‘Deadpool’ movies.”

“You have to ask the question, then, why are these people being subpoenaed?” he went on. “Do they have any actual relevance to the case at hand? You can't just go around subpoenaing people because they're famous and you think it will generate a bunch of headlines. And the federal courts don't tolerate that kind of behavior.”

As for the public commotion around the case, Gottlieb claimed, “We think there have been a lot of distractions put up to deflect attention from the retaliation campaign that was launched against her. And we expect and hope that in discovery we'll have an opportunity to really focus on what we believe to be the core part of the case, which is that this retaliation campaign was launched against Ms. Lively for her having raised concerns about sexual harassment.”

In December, Lively filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her on set. She also accused him of a smear campaign in a New York Times article. In return, he sued The New York Times, which denied any wrongdoing. 

Baldoni then filed a $250M lawsuit against NYT.

Blake then sued Justin and his PR team for sexual harassment and “unconscionable” retaliation. 

Baldoni fired off another defamation lawsuit, suing Blake, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane for $400 million.