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Blake Lively’s Team Accuses Justin Baldoni of ‘Failing to Produce’ Hidden Messages About Smear Campaign

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Blake Lively’s attorneys are accusing Justin Baldoni and his legal team of misconduct as their ongoing legal battle continues.

According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, October 23, Lively’s legal team alleged Baldoni, 41, and other defendants “have hid the ball at every turn in the discovery process, either failing to produce documents or improperly cloaking them in the attorney-client privilege.”

“Now that the dust has settled, and fact discovery and depositions have closed, two things are clear,” Lively’s team stated in their filing. “There is substantial evidence that the retaliatory campaign was, in fact, implemented as planned.”

Lively’s team also alleged that the defendants “destroyed and/or failed to preserve or produce additional material and highly relevant evidence, the absence of which they intend to try to unjustly exploit in their favor.”

Related: Blake Lively Calls Out Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Over Alleged ‘Smear Campaign’

Blake Lively called out Justin Baldoni’s lawyer while being questioned during her deposition — telling him she believed he was part of the alleged smear campaign against her, Us Weekly can exclusively report. On Monday, August 11, Lively’s team filed a heavily redacted portion of Lively’s deposition transcript. As Us previously reported, the Gossip Girl […]

With their latest filing, Lively’s team is asking the court to sanction Baldoni’s team by preventing them from telling a jury that they did not execute an alleged retaliatory campaign. Another hope from Lively’s side is that a judge informs the jury that Baldoni’s side allegedly destroyed and failed to preserve evidence, and that the jury may assume that the evidence would have been harmful for their case.

Us Weekly has reached out to Baldoni and Lively’s legal teams for additional comment.

While Lively’s team has questioned where communications through Signal and voice memos are, Baldoni and other defendants did not receive a litigation hold until December 2024.

A source also revealed to Us that Baldoni’s team was not using signal messages in August of 2024, which is the time Lively’s team alleges that Baldoni and his team “anticipated litigation.”

Lively, 38, and Baldoni’s legal drama began in December 2024, when the actress accused her It Ends With Us costar and director of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and purposefully creating a smear campaign against her. (Baldoni has consistently denied all the allegations.)

Lively’s lawsuit included “thousands of pages of text messages and emails” that the Gossip Girl alum obtained through a subpoena. The actress’ team alleged that a publicist working with the studio and Baldoni allegedly wrote to a crisis management expert, “He wants to feel like she can be buried.”

“This plan went well beyond standard crisis PR,” the docs stated.

Baldoni strongly denied the allegations and countersued Lively. In June, a judge dismissed his lawsuit against the actress.

“The Court’s decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign, and it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively’s claims,” Baldoni’s attorney said in a statement to Us at the time. “Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations. Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us.”

Related: Blake Lively Attempts to Obtain Justin Baldoni’s Legal Team’s Emails

Blake Lively suffered a small setback in court after a judge denied her effort to obtain communications sent by Justin Baldoni’s legal team to content creators or the press about her, Us Weekly can confirm. On Monday, August 4, a New York federal judge ruled on the motion filed by Baldoni’s lawyer’s firm Liner Freedman […]

In a separate conversation with podcast host Matthew Belloni, Baldoni’s attorney also claimed his client did not want negative attention directed at Lively.

“Justin wasn’t happy about anything that would be negative about Blake, about the movie, about him or anything, Bryan Freedman said on a March episode of “The Town” podcast. “This wasn’t just about him or just about her, this was about the project they were working on together.”

Lively’s case against Baldoni is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.

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