Judge Denies Blake Lively’s Request to Keep Taylor Swift Text Messages Private From Justin Baldoni

A judge has denied Blake Lively’s motion for a protective order to keep her communications with Taylor Swift regarding It Ends With Us out of Justin Baldoni’s hands. In new documents obtained by PEOPLE, Judge Lewis J. Liman denied the order on Wednesday, June 18.

Justin Baldoni’s legal team previously subpoenaed Swift in the ongoing It Ends With Us lawsuit, although the subpoena was later withdrawn. Baldoni’s defense then continued to allegedly “demand” access to records of Lively’s communications with Swift, 35. The new documents suggest that Baldoni’s legal team alleges to have never received access to Swift’s communications with Lively, which they now deem necessary to the lawsuit.

PEOPLE reached out to a representative for Baldoni, 41, who had no comment on the latest denial.

“The Court’s protective order ruling rests on the Wayfarer Parties’ admission that they received nothing from Taylor Swift, which is exactly the opposite of what their ‘insider’ claimed two weeks ago,” a representative for Lively, 37, said in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Baldoni’s desire to drag Taylor Swift into this has been constant dating back to August 2024, when the crisis PR firm led by Melissa Nathan included her in their ‘Scenario Planning’ document (Lively Amended Complaint, Exhibit D), referred to her as a bully, and called for a strategy to influence the “TS fanbase,'” the representative continued.

The statement concluded, “We will continue to call out Baldoni’s relentless efforts to exploit Ms Swift’s popularity, which from day one has been nothing more than a distraction from the serious sexual harassment and retaliation accusations he and the Wayfarer parties are facing.”

Liman’s June 18 letter continues, “Lively’s motion is rooted in the broader concern that the Wayfarer Parties are using demands for communications with Swift not “to obtain information relevant to claims and defenses in court, but to prop up a public relations narrative outside of court.”

“That order was designed precisely to ensure that parties may share sensitive information that may be ‘only tangentially related[] to the underlying cause of action’ without fear that it will be leaked to the press,” the judge wrote.

Judge Liman also denied Baldoni and Wayfarer’s cross-motion to compel, which asked Lively to produce documents related to the production.

“Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims,” the judge elaborated as the reason for Baldoni’s legal defense seeking the private messages.

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Lively’s motion for a protective order, obtained by PEOPLE on June 13, alleged that Baldoni’s team has “pursed [these communications] at the same time they have refused to produce to Ms. Lively the documents they publicly claimed to have received as part of a deal to withdraw their subpoenas to Ms. Swift and her counsel.” The letter was addressed to Judge Liman.

The decision comes shortly after Judge Liman dismissed the $400 million countersuit that Baldoni previously filed against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and The New York Times. An article in The New York Times accused Baldoni, Melissa Nathan, and the Agency Group of organizing a smear campaign against Lively. Baldoni subsequently filed a defamation lawsuit.

Before the lawsuit, Swift supplied her song “My Tears Ricochet” to the It Ends With Us soundtrack, but she did not have a role in the film’s production.