Another update in the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. This one of course is making much bigger headlines than the update from last week – we’ll come back to that in a minute.
The latest development concerns Blake’s emotional distress claim (one of many she makes against Justin in her lawsuit) and medical records. Justin’s lawyers sent a letter to the judge saying that she might be dropping the emotional distress accusation because they’re requesting her medical records and she doesn’t want to turn them over. On the surface, it seems reasonable to request medical records. Also on the surface, in this situation, given how it’s played out in the public eye over the last few months, it seems reasonable to be wary about releasing medical records considering the risk that somehow they might be leaked for public consumption.
But nothing is ever quite that simple in this protracted war, even though the headlines seem relatively simple. Because Blake’s lawyers filed a response to Justin’s letter and called it another PR stunt. According to Blake’s legal team, on a series of phone calls that happened over the weekend, she “voluntarily agreed to withdraw her infliction of emotional distress claims on Friday, May 30. Ms. Lively did so in good faith to streamline the dispute in the ordinary litigation process given the damages she otherwise anticipates recovering. Counsel for the Wayfarer Parties concede and are aware that this renders their discovery moot. Motion at 3. But they also have been desperately searching for an angle to make a show out of Ms. Lively’s decision to streamline her case.” You can read that letter here.
Basically, they’re saying that what was a routine legal negotiation turned into a publicity stunt with Justin’s lawyers rushing out a letter so that they could mischaracterise the recent developments in the media. And they’re also suggesting the court sanction Justin’s legal team for it.
Interestingly enough, these filings are getting way more media play than the ones from last week. Last week, multiple advocacy groups submitted amicus briefs in support of Blake’s motion to dismiss to Justin’s defamation countersuit. Many of these groups authored and/or cosponsored a law in California that protects victims of sexual harassment from invasive and costly defamation countersuits that have become part of the DARVO playbook. And the amicus briefs specifically describe Justin’s legal tactics as such. Almost all of the media outlets reporting on the emotional distress and medical records issue yesterday and today did not cover the amicus briefs. Is it because Justin’s lawyers didn’t give them the heads up about it?
Tipping off the media first has been crucial to how Justin’s been able to shape public opinion on this case. It’s his legal team’s most effective legal maneuver. They are spectacularly great at it.
