Justin Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has called the legal battle with Blake Lively “far from over” after two lawsuits filed by the director were dismissed in court earlier this week.
The remark came during the attorney’s interview on TMZ Live this Tuesday when asked about Baldoni’s reaction to the Tuesday verdict.
“What was Justin’s reaction to it? The same as my reaction to it, which is: It’s not fair. It’s not right. I think that he’s a person who wants to be vindicated, and that’s all that he cares about,” began Freedman.
Freedman added that they “weren’t pleased” with the judge’s June 9 decision to toss the countersuit and that the legal battle between the two actors is “so far from over, let’s just put it that way.”
“He knows who he is. He knows what he’s done. He knows what he hasn’t done. And he wants the truth to come out, and he wants to do that in the appropriate way. He’s waiting for his day in court, where he can speak out to tell the truth.”
Freedman doubled down on their response to Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation complaints against Baldoni and the Wayfarer Studios, saying her accusations are “completely wrong” and that Lively is “afraid of the truth.”
“The truth is going to be shown through depositions, which is what is going to be next,” he said, adding that he sent notice to conduct Lively’s deposition sometime in June.
“We’re gonna proceed forward with the case, and we’re going to show that there was no sexual harassment, and we’re going to show that there was no smear campaign. It’s really just that simple. It’s unfortunate to be wrongfully accused here,” said Freedman.
Freedman’s statement comes after Lively’s attorney Mike Gottlieb celebrated victory in a June 9 interview on CNN.
“I think that today is a message that these kind of retaliatory lawsuits that are really designed to silence and punish people who speak up won’t work. They are not going to work. They won’t be tolerated by our justice system and they will not be successful,” Gottlieb told host Jake Tapper.
He added that the actress is “determined to see her claims through and to pursue them to have a full public accountability of what she’s alleged happened to her.”
The remarks come after Judge Lewis J. Liman granted motions on June 9 to dismiss both Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against Lively and Reynolds and the $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times for its coverage of Lively’s complaint in December 2024.
Baldoni’s legal team has a deadline of June 23 to amend the claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract.
