Justin Baldoni's lawyer claims Blake Lively's legal team is "fishing" with their subpoena for call records spanning 2.5 years
Justin Baldoni's attorney has spoken out regarding Blake Lively’s recent legal move to subpoena Baldoni’s phone records and communications. The actress filed subpoenas requesting phone records from the It Ends With Us director and his associates, claiming it would help expose an alleged smear campaign orchestrated against her, as reported by People magazine.
On February 12, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, criticized the request, labeling it an "extraordinary" attempt to obtain extensive data.
"Subpoenas are an ordinary part of the litigation process," Freedman said in a statement. "What is extraordinary is what the Lively Parties are seeking. They are asking for every single call, text, data log, and even real-time location information for the past 2.5 years, regardless of the sender, recipient, or subject matter."
Freedman further accused Blake Lively's legal team stating,
"This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none."
Blake Lively’s legal team allegedly seeks phone records spanning 2.5 years
The subpoenas, sent to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, aim to collect phone records belonging to Baldoni, his publicist Jennifer Abel, and crisis-management expert Melissa Nathan. Blake Lively's spokesperson stated that these records could "provide critical and irrefutable evidence" of who was involved in the alleged retaliation and how the plan was executed.
Blake Lively’s legal team also asked for internet records from Cloudflare, Inc. and AOL, which they believe could reveal the digital roles played by other individuals in the alleged smear campaign. According to the actress's lawyers, the subpoenas are intended to "expose the people, tactics, and methods" used to harm Lively’s reputation and family.
The legal conflict between Lively and Baldoni began in December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni and others of s*xual harassment and retaliation. Her lawsuit alleged that Baldoni led a smear campaign against her after Lively raised the issue of s*xual harassment on the sets of It Ends with Us. Baldoni denied the allegations and on December 31, 2024, filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times.
The lawsuit included claims of libel, false light invasion of privacy, and promissory fraud regarding a December 21 article titled, "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine."
In response, Blake Lively’s legal team told People that her claims were backed by "concrete facts" and accused Baldoni of attempting to shift blame onto the victim.
The legal battle intensified when Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit on January 16, 2025, against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, publicist Leslie Sloane, and her PR firm Vision PR, Inc. Baldoni accused them of civil extortion, defamation, and other claims.
According to Fox News, Jed Wallace, a crisis PR consultant allegedly involved in the campaign, also became a target of Lively's investigation. Lively’s legal team claimed Wallace’s internal messages revealed a deliberate effort to change the narrative and focus negative attention on her.
Wallace countered with his own defamation lawsuit on February 4, seeking $6 million in damages. Blake Lively’s attorneys dismissed Wallace’s lawsuit as "transparent retaliation" and expressed confidence that it would be thrown out.
Both parties have denied the allegations made against them and continue to pursue legal action. The high-profile case, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al., is scheduled to go to trial on March 9, 2026.
