Blake Lively has moved to depose a key player who allegedly played a part in the smear campaign she says was initiated by Justin Baldoni. Plus, a New York court has set a trial date for the crisscrossing lawsuits between Lively and her 'It Ends With Us' director and co-star.
00:00Blake Lively has moved to depose a man who allegedly played a part in the smear campaign
00:04she says was initiated by Justin Baldoni.
00:06Plus a New York court has set a trial date for the crisscrossing lawsuits between Lively and her It Ends With Us director and co-star.
00:15Lively filed a petition in Texas State Court on January 21st seeking a court order for a deposition of Jed Wallace of crisis management firm
00:22Street Relations who was named in the complaint the actress filed with the California Civil Rights Department, but not the lawsuit
00:28she filed in federal court. The filing is intended to obtain testimony for use in an anticipated complaint or to investigate a potential claim in
00:35ongoing litigation.
00:36Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni accused Wallace of weaponizing a digital army to create and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media
00:44platforms and internet chat forums.
00:46Baldoni's public relations team that allegedly orchestrated the campaign to undermine the actress would then feed pieces of the manufactured content to
00:53reporters with a goal of making it go viral in order to quote
00:56influence public opinion and thereby cause an organic pile-on.
00:59Wallace was retained on behalf of Baldoni and his company Wayfarer who also brought on veteran crisis PR executive Melissa Nathan of the agency group.
01:07Nathan is named in Lively's lawsuit.
01:09Plus a New York federal judge moved up a hearing to address an escalating request from Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds to bar Brian
01:16Friedman Baldoni's lawyer from talking to the press and
01:19biasing potential jurors. The judge ordered that a pre-trial hearing set for February 11th be moved up to February 3rd.
01:26Hours after Lively and Reynolds legal team sent a second letter alleging Friedman continues to violate court rules
01:32by making certain comments to the media on behalf of Baldoni and Baldoni's production company Wayfarer among other tactics.
01:38Lively is accusing Baldoni of alleged sexual harassment on the set of the film as well as orchestrating a smear campaign
01:44following the film's release.
01:45Baldoni later filed his own complaint against the actress and her husband Ryan Reynolds seeking at least
01:51400 million dollars in damages. The judge also revealed that the court plans to consolidate the separate lawsuits and set a March 9th
01:582026 trial date. For much more on this story and all the latest updates go to THR.com. This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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