Lawyers for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will lock horns in federal court today as sources close to Team Baldoni tell DailyMail.com they did nothing wrong by posting a vast trove of previously unseen legal material online. The It Ends with Us co-stars are not obliged to attend the 11am pretrial conference in New York which marks the first step in their dueling $400 million defamation suits. Adding to the intrigue will be the unexpected involvement of another high-powered attorney, Sigrid McCawley, who is best known for representing Jeffrey Epstein's victims.

A filing late Sunday revealed the veteran litigator will appear on behalf of Lively's publicist and co-defendant, Leslie Sloane, who is accused of plotting to trash Baldoni's reputation. The pricey legal teams will spar over a host of issues including Lively's demand for a gag order and her alleged refusal to sit down for a deposition with Baldoni's lead counsel, Bryan Freedman. The 37-year-old actress has complained bitterly about Freedman making 'harassing and retaliatory' comments about her to the media and wants Judge Lewis Liman to silence the outspoken super lawyer.

Lawyers for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will lock horns in federal court today as sources close to Team Baldoni tell DailyMail.com they did nothing wrong by posting a vast trove of previously unseen legal material online. A filing late Sunday revealed the veteran litigator will appear on behalf of Lively's publicist and co-defendant, Leslie Sloane, who is accused of plotting to trash Baldoni's reputation.

Her mood will likely not have improved after Team Baldoni followed through Saturday with a pledge to upload new details of their headline-spewing legal fight to a specially created website. Thelawsuitinfo.com went live with links to an amended version of Baldoni's complaint and a 'timeline of relevant events' charting how the explosive feud developed during filming for their 2024 adaptation of Colleen Hoover's acclaimed novel.

The cache includes surprising evidence that Lively's Hollywood actor husband Ryan Reynolds seemed to like Baldoni before their relationship soured, texting him to say: 'I'm excited for Blake to crack open her creative piggy bank with someone as dynamic as you … I happen to adore you, Justin.'. Another eye-popping message from Lively to 41-year-old Baldoni, discussing the script for the movie's pivotal rooftop scene, reads: 'If you knew me (in person) longer you'd have a sense of how flirty and yummy the ball busting will be.

'It's my love language. Spicy and playfully bold, never with teeth.'. What Judge Liman, a Trump appointee, makes of Team Baldoni's latest PR power move remains to be seen. The film at the heart of the feud, based on the 2016 bestseller by Colleen Hoover, was released in August and was a box office hit. It follows Lily Bloom, a florist played by Lively, who falls in love with a charming but abusive neurosurgeon played by Baldoni.

Justin Baldoni launched his own website dedicated to defending himself against Blake Lively 's sexual harassment allegations; seen on December 04, 2024. The cache of documents included surprising evidence that Lively's Hollywood actor husband Ryan Reynolds seemed to like Baldoni before their relationship soured. But Freedman and his co-counsel will argue that the two uploaded documents were merely published court filings already available to the public via the federal government's Pacer website.

'It's important to point out that nobody is monetizing off this. It's simply a landing page to have access to legal documents that are already public,' a source told DailyMail.com. 'This is far from a provocation. In fact, it's yet more evidence that Justin and his team intend to be continually transparent.'. Judge Liman will also be asked to decide whether Freedman – a bulldog showbiz lawyer whose previous clients include Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Julia Roberts – should be allowed to grill Lively under oath on behalf of Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios.

'Counsel for Ms. Lively and Ryan Reynolds stated their objection to the Wayfarer Parties' lead counsel conducting the deposition of Blake Lively,' Baldoni attorney Kevin Fritz wrote to the court Friday. 'Specifically, the Lively Parties' counsel indicated that they object to Bryan J. Freedman personally, taking Ms Lively's deposition, based upon unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman.'. Text exchanges between Reynolds and Baldoni that have been included in the lawsuit. In this set of messages, he thanks him for his well wishes and says he's excited to get to know Baldoni's family - even going so far to praise him for being a 'wonderful collaborator'.