Justin Baldoni‘s legal team is claiming that Blake Lively‘s lawyers are trying to extort music superstar Taylor Swift.
What are Justin Baldoni’s lawyers claiming?
In a new letter filed in court on Wednesday (via THR) from Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s team alleges that Michael Gottlieb, who is representing Lively, reached out to the legal firm that represents Swift, Venable.
According to the letter, Gottlieb “demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature” would be released.
Freedman’s letter went on to say that Swift’s legal team responded to the request in at least one written message. The letter Freedman entered into court is looking to have those communications released, claiming that they prove that Lively’s team is essentially trying to intimidate a witness in Baldoni and Lively’s ongoing legal battle.
In response to the letter, Gottlieb says that the accusations are “categorically false,” and that the use of anonymous sources is “cowardly” from Freedman.
“We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality. This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties’ lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process. We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here.”
The back-and-forth is just the latest in the ongoing legal saga between Baldoni and Lively, which has featured tons of different updates.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)