CNN
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Blake Lively’s attorneys are accusing Justin Baldoni’s attorney Brian Friedman of making “misleading and selective” statements publicly about his ongoing legal dispute with Lively and Baldoni, and are asking the court to are to hold hearings “to promote the proper conduct of lawyers”. ”
Lively’s legal team filed a letter in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, the same day Friedman released video footage from the set of the movie “It Ends With Us” at the center of the ongoing legal battle, claiming the footage , denying Lively’s characterization of Baldoni’s behavior. Friedman also said Tuesday that he plans to set up a website containing more correspondence and video footage that he says Lively wrote. will discredit the claims.
In a letter filed after the video footage was released Tuesday and obtained by CNN, Lively’s attorneys said they had filed the first two complaints with the California Department of Civil Rights on Dec. 21. Cease and desist letters were sent. Among these letters were released “The Wayfarer Parties”, which include members of Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer Studios and members of Baldoni’s publicity. The team
The second cease-and-desist letter was sent “directly to Mr. Friedman,” asking him to “stop making any further defamatory, vindictive statements concerning Ms. Lively” and stating that his public statements were “prosecutions.” In the letter to Freedman, Lively’s legal team sought to issue a reminder that “lawyers are not publicity agents” and that lawyers “There is a need to adhere to a different set of professional standards than publicists and crisis managers.”
“Since receipt of the cease-fire letters by the Waiver Parties and Mr. Friedman, they have continued their harassing and retaliatory media campaign, with almost daily media statements or other releases to the press,” part of the letter reads. Read what Lively’s legal team filed in court on Tuesday.
Lively’s lawyers argue that Friedman’s conduct “risks, and will, materially prejudice” both Lively’s sexual harassment case and Baldoni’s defamation case by “tainting the jury pool” and asking the court to “schedule a hearing to address the proper conduct of attorneys. Proceeding in these two related cases.”
They intend to seek a protective order for further action in this matter “in light of the harm caused by Mr. Friedman’s misleading and selective statements and leaks,” according to the letter, but say a hearing is necessary.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Friedman and Lively, respectively, for comment.
Baldoni and Lively are in a legal battle that began in December when Lively filed her initial complaint ahead of her civil sexual harassment lawsuit.
In his suit, Lively said that during the filming of “It Ends With Us” a meeting was held with Baldoni, Lively and various production executives to “almost derail the production with a hostile work environment.” ” After raising concerns about “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior by Mr. Baldoni,” his lawsuit claims, Baldoni’s PR representatives launched a “social manipulation” campaign. ran which was aimed at vindictively damaging his reputation in the media.
Baldoni has denied Lively’s allegations. He filed a $250 million defamation suit against The New York Times in December, where he claimed the newspaper — which First reported Lively’s CRD complaint – published an accompanying article that was “full of errors, misrepresentations and omissions” that relied on Lively’s “self-serving narrative.”
The New York Times told CNN in a statement at the time that it stood by its reporting, saying its story was “carefully and responsibly reported.”
Baldoni also filed a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane earlier this month.
At the time, Lively’s attorney told CNN in a statement that Baldoni’s suit was “another chapter in the abuser’s playbook. It’s an old story: A woman speaks out with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and The abuser tries to turn the tables on the victim.
