Last week, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ lawyers proclaimed they wanted Bryan Freedman disciplined by the courts for the attorney’s “extrajudicial statements” in the media against the actress for his client Justin Baldoni in the multiple lawsuits battle between the It Ends With Us co-stars. Now, along with that proposed protective order against Freedman, the power couple’s attorneys want to make sure the Century City litigator won’t be taking a deposition from their client in Lively’s New Year’s Eve lawsuit against Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Everything exploded publicly with Lively’s December 20 complaint in California’s Civil Rights Department complaint against her IEWU director. Now, Friday’s block move against Freedman comes just hours after the Gossip Girl alum and the “Merc with a mouth”-portraying Reynolds filed notice that they intend to get Baldoni’s January 16 $400 million defamation and extortion suit against them dismissed.
The agenda for the February 3 pretrial conference in NYC before federal Judge Lewis J. Liman where the requested so-called “gag order” for perpetually camera ready Freedman will be discussed is looking pretty full. Tonight, not long after Judge Liman consolidated Baldoni’s $400 million action and Lively’s New Year’s Eve lawsuit against the Jane the Virgin actor, Baldoni attorney Kevin Fritz topped it all up even more.
Fritz wrote to the court Thursday night about the objection to Freedman talking to Lively under oath anytime soon.
“During a conference of the parties’ counsel on January 30, 2025, counsel for the Wayfarer Parties requested the earliest possible deposition of Blake Lively,” Fritz told Judge Liman tonight in a two-page letter on behalf of Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, its CEO and primary backer, as well as PR bosses Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. “Counsel for Ms. Lively and Ryan Reynolds (the “Lively Parties”) stated their objection to the Wayfarer Parties’ lead counsel conducting the deposition of Blake Lively, the Meister Seelig & Fein PLLC partner went on to say. “Specifically, the Lively Parties’ counsel indicated that they object to Bryan J. Freedman, personally, taking Ms. Lively’s deposition, based upon unspecified statements made by Mr. Freedman. When asked to elaborate on the grounds for their objection, counsel for the Lively Parties declined to do so.
“Counsel for Ms. Lively has made clear that Ms. Lively does not want Mr. Freedman to be the attorney who takes her deposition,” Fritz added. “We are unaware of any situation that would warrant the deposed party to have a choice in which attorney takes her deposition. Parties to litigation simply do not have the right to dictate which of their opponents’ attorneys may or may not take their deposition or perform any other aspect of the opposing party’s case.”
Baldoni’s team want this quandary addressed at Monday’s hearing, which looks to be several hours long already at this point.
In a rare show of perhaps unintended unity, neither reps for Baldoni and his lawyers, nor for Lively and Reynolds responded to Deadline’s request for comment Thursday on the actress’ request related to the planned deposition.
The silence is unusual in this matter.
Over the days and weeks after Lively’s CRD filing, the commonly combative Fredman has dropped such gems as Lively and her team having but “one heinous pivot left” when faced with faced with evidence presented by he and other lawyers, and “that is to double down on the revoltingly false sexual allegations against Mr. Baldoni.”
Amidst filings, media handouts attack and counterattacks from both sides, plus a NYE $250 million lawsuit by the WME-dumped Badloni against the New York Times, there have been plenty of artfully chosen text messages, other private correspondence, IEWU outtakes, 2 a.m. voice messages, and a speculative sexual harassment clickbait against franchise superstar Reynolds in a January 7 evidence preservation letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel chief Kevin Feige. That, along with a plethora of message control tactics.
Additionally, on shows hosted by other clients like Megyn Kelly and Chris Cuomo (but no Tucker Carlson, yet), Freedman has repeatedly threatened to create a website that contained all the communications from the production of It Ends With Us, and the alleged astroturfing campaign against Lively — a primed campaign that Baldoni’s side says they never actually had to enact because the Internet organically hated the actress.
Whether that site from Freedman shows up online before Monday’s hearing is TBD, but at the rate the figurative grenades have been chucked in this ever expanding saga, don’t discount it.
