Justin Baldoni is clapping back at Blake Lively‘s attempt to get his lawsuit against her tossed out of court, while once again accusing her of trying to destroy his career, according to new court documents.
Baldoni just filed his response to Blake’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit in federal court — giving several reasons why the judge should not let the actress off the hook.
In the docs, Baldoni accuses Blake of orchestrating, participating in and directing a smear campaign “designed to ruin the reputations and careers of the Wayfarer parties.”
TMZ.com
Baldoni is the co-founder of Wayfarer Studios, which produced “It’s Ends With Us,” starring Blake and Justin, who also directed the film. As you know, the movie shoot ended in a nasty feud that came to a head when Blake first filed suit against Justin, accusing him of sexual harassment and engineering a smear campaign against her.
Justin filed his own suit against Blake her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and the New York Times, claiming Blake directed her own smear campaign against him with the help of an NYT article.
In his latest filing, Baldoni says “there is sufficient evidence that [Lively] took a responsible part in publishing each of the allegedly defamatory statements by approving or authorizing them prior to publication.”
Baldoni also points out “Lively told the NYT a false and damning story about an insidious PR sabotage operation deployed as revenge for sexual harassment complaints, with the knowledge and intent that the newspaper would publish that false story[.]”
Baldoni went on to list other reasons why the judge should deny Blake’s motion, including that she acted out of malice.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, tells TMZ, “Ms. Lively and her circle of Hollywood elites cannot prevent my clients from exercising their constitutional right to petition the court to clear their names from her false and harmful claims.”
Freedman continued, “What Ms. Lively is attempting to do is to set a dangerous precedent by barring the courthouse doors to my clients and punishing them for having their day in court, a right protected by the First Amendment. This right protects not only Mr. Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties in this particular case, but all Americans in the future who have false accusations levied against them and seek relief from our justice system.”
Freedman wrapped it up by saying … “This must stop here, and we will continue to fight against this blatant attempt to block access to the court system and to weaken our nation’s Constitution to serve those who are in the position of power.”
