The war-room plotting central to the high-profile defamation battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is among the topics Justin Baldoni’s crisis consultants want off-limits when his “It Ends with Us” co-star, Blake Lively, takes them to trial next month, per new court filings.
In a torrent of pretrial motions filed over the weekend, attorneys for Baldoni’s PR team and his production company Wayfarer Studios sought to chip away at the case Lively will make to a Manhattan federal court jury in her $300 million retaliation and breach of contract lawsuit.
Lawyers for Baldoni’s camp said Lively wanted to highlight past PR work of Melissa Nathan — whose firm, The Agency Group PR, is a defendant — to smear her as “immoral.”
“Any services that Nathan rendered for actor Johnny Depp in connection with his high-profile defamation litigation against ex-wife Amber Heard, for other celebrities such as rappers Drake and Travis Scott, professional wrestler Logan Paul, and actress Rebel Wilson, for politicians, or for other clients are irrelevant to whether she aided and abetted the purported smear campaign at issue herein,” attorney Bryan Freedman wrote.
“The sole reason why Lively improperly seeks to introduce evidence of work that Nathan purportedly performed for her other clients (other than Wayfarer Studios) is to convince the jury that Nathan is immoral and a wrongdoer.”
The trial, set to begin with jury selection on May 18, is slated to hash out Lively’s retaliation claims against Baldoni’s production company, the PR firm it hired amid his fallout with Lively, and the LLC established to develop the box office film “It Ends with Us,” which Baldoni starred in and directed.
Judge Lewis Liman earlier this month threw out 10 of 13 claims in Lively’s suit against Baldoni, including claims of sexual harassment. The judge, in part, based his ruling on the determination that Lively couldn’t legally bring them as she was technically an independent contractor and not Baldoni’s employee.
Jurors are, however, expected to hear some sexual harassment allegations as Lively’s lawyers lay a foundation for her retaliation claim. The judge’s Apr. 2 decision throwing out the bulk of Lively’s claims said someone in her position could reasonably have felt the film set reflected “a gendered and sexualized view of women and a disregard for their privacy,” making for a workplace hostile to women.
The case is expected to hone in on allegations that 42-year-old Baldoni’s company and its PR firm orchestrated a smear campaign against the “Gossip Girl” actor after she accused Baldoni of harassing her on set and creating an unsafe work environment. Lively’s lawyers say a digital hate campaign had potentially career-ending consequences, citing over 100 million online hits denigrating her as a bully and a “mean girl.”
The jury is expected to hear from Lively at the trial, who in a statement last week said she and husband Ryan Reynolds looked forward to airing out her allegations. Reynolds, 49, is expected to testify about Lively’s time on set and the impact of the alleged smear campaign.
Lively’s list of potential witnesses also included Isabela Ferrer, who played the younger version of her character in the film.
Baldoni’s lawyers have not yet told the court if he will testify in person or whether jurors will see video of him being deposed.
In their recent filings, Baldoni’s camp said author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the best-selling novel that he adapted for the big screen, had no part in the film and should not be called as a witness for Lively. They also asked Liman to bar testimony from actor Jenny Slate, who starred in the film and took issue with Baldoni’s inappropriate remarks, per court filings.
In her requests to the court, Lively’s team has asked the judge to bar any evidence about her net worth of that of her husband, saying it was irrelevant. The actress also wants the judge to keep out any mention of “Nicepool,” the 2024 blockbuster featuring Reynolds.
In a countersuit Baldoni brought against Lively, 38, and Reynolds alleging he’d been defamed and extorted — which Liman threw out last summer — the actor claimed Reynolds’ character in the Marvel movie was based on him, portraying Baldoni “as a fake feminist who makes inappropriate comments.”
Lively’s lawyers said the effort to include details of the film in the upcoming trial was “nothing more than a desperate effort to advance the same curated ‘bully’ image” that Baldoni’s camp perpetuated in their alleged smear campaign.