Blake Lively‘s lawyers filed a motion Monday for sanctions against Bryan Freedman, the lead counsel for Justin Baldoni, arguing that he has engaged in a pre-trial “press tour” to impugn Lively’s character.
Lively is suing Baldoni, his publicists and Wayfarer Studios over her treatment on the set of “It Ends With Us.” She alleges she was sexually harassed and that Baldoni and his allies secretly smeared her online in retaliation for complaining about it.
Lively’s lawyers have repeatedly accused Freedman of making improper out-of-court statements that, they argue, are designed to influence jurors. At the urging of Lively’s team in February, Judge Lewis Liman ordered both sides to adhere to the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which forbid character attacks on the opposing side.
In the motion on Monday, Lively’s team argues that Freedman began violating the order almost immediately with “biased and inflammatory pre-trial indictments of Ms. Lively’s character, credibility and reputation.”
The motion cites interviews and statements Freedman has given to TMZ, People, Billy Bush and Megyn Kelly. In one such interview, Freedman suggested to TMZ that Lively is “afraid of the truth” and suggested that she might not show up to her deposition.
Lively was deposed last Thursday. On Friday, Baldoni’s attorneys filed a motion in a discovery dispute, which included a sealed copy of Lively’s deposition transcript as an exhibit.
Lively’s team argued Monday that the 292-page transcript — which remains sealed for now — should be stricken from the court record.
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A deposition typically would remain confidential, except for limited excerpts required to make legal arguments.
In a motion, Lively’s team alleged that Baldoni’s team is using the deposition to pursue a PR strategy — either forcing it into the public record, or forcing Lively’s team to ask that it remain under seal.
“The Wayfarer Defendants and their counsel hope to make Ms. Lively defend the continued sealing of the transcript so they can advance a false narrative that Ms. Lively is afraid of her deposition testimony becoming public, which is entirely untrue and deeply harmful,” Lively’s lawyers wrote.
In the sanctions motion, Lively’s team argued that Freedman was engaged in a “public relations stunt,” and that his conduct raises concerns about misleading statements that could sway the jury pool.
Lively is seeking a public reprimand and attorneys’ fees.
From Variety US