Back in May, there were some crazy rumors and stories flying around about Blake Lively and Taylor Swift. Justin Baldoni’s lawyer claimed that they had it on good authority that Blake tried to convince Taylor to delete emails or texts having to do with It Ends with Us. Blake’s lawyers fought back in court, arguing that Taylor wasn’t part of the situation whatsoever. Taylor’s lawyers also got involved and it was chaotic for a second. Then Baldoni’s lawyers dropped their documents subpoena, a bizarre move given everything they said in court. Deadline reported that “Part of the reason the summons was dropped was because details that the Bryan Freedman-represented Baldoni and crew sought were provided, I hear.” As in, Taylor and her team turned over everything Team Baldoni wanted. Well, last week, Blake’s team went to court to say that Team Baldoni should not have access to any of the communications between Swift and Lively. The judge said… not so fast.
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.
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.
I agree with the judge’s ruling here – the communications are absolutely relevant. It feels like they’re even more relevant to the case because of the outsized focus on the documents and whether Baldoni’s team can have access to them. I’d really like to know if Deadline’s source was correct last month as well, and that Taylor’s people turned over documents to Baldoni’s side and that’s why Baldoni withdrew the summons. Hm.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
