The intense legal battle involving actors Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively from It Ends With Us has reached a new phase as concerns arise over the authenticity of a subpoena.
A purported document was delivered to Baldoni’s ex-publicist, Stephanie Jones, requesting the transfer of confidential text messages to Lively, a request she complied with.
However, Baldoni’s legal team has raised suspicions regarding the legitimacy of the subpoena due to its issuance before any formal legal actions were initiated by either party.
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, claims Jones only passed on the messages out of ‘spite’.
‘There is no doubt that Stephanie Jones willingly and maliciously spread private and confidential communications concerning her former clients in an effort to humiliate them and destroy the fledgling business and reputation of her former employee,’ Freedman said in a statement to the Daily Mail.
‘She did so purely out of spite and prior to any phantom subpoena that we have yet to see.’
A forlorn Blake Lively broke cover last week on a farm far away from Hollywood
Justin Baldoni’s legal team has cast doubt on Stephanie Jones’s claims that she was complying with a subpoena when she turned over a cellphone containing sensitive information to Blake Lively
In a statement on Friday, Baldoni’s lead lawyer Bryan Freedman said he had not seen the subpoena and questioned whether it was ever filed, while noting inconsistencies in the timeline
According to Freedman, a subpoena requires a case number from a filed legal case to be referenced and no case was ever filed against Jones or anyone prior to her giving Blake those text message.Â
But Jones’s lawyer Maaren Shah hit back. ‘More distractions, and still no defense for what the whole world saw in those text messages,’ she said.
‘If Mr. Baldoni or his attorneys believe the subpoena legally requiring Ms. Jones to turn over the damning evidence demonstrating his client orchestrated a smear campaign against Ms. Lively is fake, he should sign an affidavit saying so and we look forward to the discovery process.
Baldoni, 41, and Lively, 37, have been at each other’s throats for months over her claims that he sexually harassed her on the set – which formed the basis of a major New York Times article – and his accusations that she didn’t take the movie’s domestic abuse focus seriously while promoting the film.
Jones’s company Jonesworks PR represented Baldoni but the two parted ways in a bitter split after the controversy began. A former employee, Jennifer Abel, and consultant, Melissa Nathan, then took over the job.
In new court documents, Jones said she was complying with the subpoena when she turned over sensitive messages to Lively that ended up being central to the actress’s blockbuster lawsuit against her co-star in December.
The text messages in question were featured prominently in the New York Times report about Lively’s complaint in December. Among them was a now infamous text from Baldoni’s other publicist Melissa Nathan that read: ‘We can bury anyone’
Baldoni’s legal team claimed the texts included in the article were doctored and taken out of context and even published the complete exchanges to show the omissionsÂ
Baldoni’s PR Jennifer Abel worked for Jones but quit over what she called a ‘toxic’ work environment
But Freedman said he has not seen the document and questioned whether it was ever filed, while noting inconsistencies in the timeline.Â
The Daily Mail has exclusively reviewed a copy of the purported subpoena, dated October 1, 2024. It says it was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
It is signed by an attorney working for the New York law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, who represent Lively and her husband actor Ryan Reynolds, 48.
It orders Jones to hand over all documents and communications concerning Lively and Reynolds and their companies.Â
Freedman also claimed there was a ‘toxic’ work environment at Jonesworks, which was the reason Abel left, while Wayfarer exercised ‘their own free will’ to take their business elsewhere.
Text messages between Abel and Nathan form the centerpiece of Lively’s accusations of a negative press campaign against her, while they say the missives were selectively edited and their inclusion in the case unleashed a wave of social media abuse against them.
Freedman said the release of the messages to Lively’s team had been done to ‘humiliate’ the two women and destroy their businesses.
‘Wayfarer simply exercised their own free will, in writing, by terminating Jonesworks due to the underhand behavior of their embattled CEO Stephanie Jones.
‘Her former employee exercised her own free will to quit a toxic work environment and chose to no longer withstand the bullying of both herself and other employees.
Blake Lively has been in a spiraling war of words with Justin Baldoni for several months over her claims that he sexually harassed her on the set and his accusations that she didn’t take the movie’s domestic abuse focus seriously
Freedman even suggested that Reynolds or the couple’s powerhouse PR Leslie Sloane may have been involved in tampering with the messages.
‘The only thing that remains to be seen is who cut, spliced, and altered the communications: whether it was Jones, Lively, Sloane, Reynolds, The New York Times – or all of the above,’ he said.
The texts were found on Abel’s work-issued cellphone and were featured prominently in the New York Times December piece.
Among them was one from Nathan that read: ‘We can bury anyone.’
Attorney and legal expert Oleg Nekritin told the Daily Mail that pre-lawsuit discovery can happen but only under certain circumstances, such as preserving evidence that is at risk of being lost or destroyed.
However, Nekritin noted that a subpoena cannot be used to dig for evidence of a possible cause of action, or what’s commonly referred to as a ‘fishing expedition’.
‘In the Baldoni matter, any issues related to pretrial subpoenas will be moot, as a complaint was eventually filed, allowing either side to have the opportunity to subpoena witnesses and to obtain documents,’ the attorney explained.
‘If a party filed a pretrial subpoena that was not complied with, their recourse will be to file a new subpoena under the active docket number.’
Jones’s latest filing also claimed both Baldoni and Abel had violated their contracts with her – breaking the law in the process – and allegedly conspired with Nathan.
The film at the heart of the feud, based on the 2016 bestseller by Colleen Hoover, was released in August and was a box office hitÂ
The movie follows Lily Bloom, a florist played by Lively, who falls in love with a charming but abusive neurosurgeon played by Baldoni, who was also the film’s director
In a statement released to the Daily Mail Thursday, Jones’s lawyer Shah doubled down on smear campaign allegations and accused Baldoni and his team of planting ‘falsehoods’ about her client in the media.
She also alleged that his company Wayfarer had failed to pay Jonesworks that was ‘fairly owed’.
She said: ‘Wayfarer and Ms. Abel’s distraction games in the press, and their legal filings attacking Ms. Jones and falsely accusing her of leaking are a desperate diversion from the reality that they have no answer for their blatant misconduct — and have yet to produce a shred of evidence disproving Ms. Jones’ claims.
‘They may wish it weren’t the case, but the fact remains that Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios and Ms. Abel brazenly and repeatedly breached their contractual obligations to Ms. Jones and Jonesworks, shamelessly framing her as the culprit behind the smear campaign they themselves created targeting Ms. Lively.
‘They’ve planted falsehoods in the press to tarnish Ms. Jones’s business, stole confidential documents and clients, and refused to pay Jonesworks what was fairly owed.
‘Those are facts, and smoke and mirrors PR campaigns can’t change them.’
