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Johnny Depp Lawyer Calls Baldoni's Approach in Lively Case Aggressive
Johnny Depp's attorney described Justin Baldoni's legal approach as 'very aggressive' while discussing his lawsuit against Blake Lively
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Johnny Deppâs attorney has some thoughts on how Justin Baldoni and his legal team are publicly navigating the lawsuit drama with Blake Lively.
During the Tuesday, February 4, episode of the âLaw&Crime Sidebar with Jesse Weberâ podcast, Benjamin Chew â who represented Depp, 61, in his widely covered defamation trial against Amber Heard â referred to Baldoniâs approach to the case as âvery aggressive.â
âUsually you would not do something like that before a hearing, but Iâm sure that they vetted it carefully, vetted the material carefully,â Chew said in reference to Baldoni, 41, launching a website with his amended complaint and an alleged âtimeline of relevant eventsâ to address Livelyâs sexual harassment claims against him. âI think it is very aggressive.â
Chew, who is not involved in either lawsuit, was surprised by how Baldoni and his team went about addressing Livelyâs accusations.
Related: Everything Justin Baldoniâs Costars Have Said About Working With Him
Justin Baldoniâs working relationships with his Hollywood colleagues have been under a microscope after Blake Lively accused him of misconduct on the set of 2024âs It Ends With Us. Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment in December 2024, claiming that he caused her âsevere emotional distressâ and fostered a âhostile work environmentâ while they costarred [âŠ]
âCertainly posting a pleading doesnât seem to me to be out of bounds. These are pleadings made in the public record,â he noted. âBut itâs a novel approach, a bold approach.â
Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez Ron Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty ImagesDeppâs legal counsel wanted to âremain agnosticâ in response to a question about who he thought had the upper hand in the case. However, Chew noted that having receipts will be âparticularly persuasiveâ as a visual guide because video and text message evidence is âmore impactfulâ than âassertions of counsel.â
Lively, 37, and Baldoniâs dynamic initially made headlines when their film It Ends With Us premiered in August 2024. Throughout the press tour last summer, Baldoni â who also directed the film â and Lively were not seen promoting the film together, which raised questions about potential tension between the costars.
Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively Cindy Ord/Getty Images (2)Lively ultimately filed paperwork in December 2024 accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment, creating a âhostile work environmentâ and causing her âsevere emotional distressâ while working together.
Baldoniâs lawyer Bryan Freedman called Livelyâs claims âcompletely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious,â alleging in a statement to Us Weekly that Lively filed the lawsuit to âfix her negative reputationâ and ârehash a narrativeâ regarding the production of It Ends With Us. (Lively served as a producer on the movie.)
Freedman went on to claim that Lively made âmultiple demands and threatsâ throughout filming, which included âthreatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.â
Related: Every New Claim in Justin Baldoniâs $400 Million Blake Lively Lawsuit
Justin Baldoniâs legal battle with It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively continues with a brand-new explosive lawsuit. According to the filing obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, January 16, Baldoni, 40, is accusing Lively, 37, her publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Ryan Reynolds of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and other claims. [âŠ]
That same month, Baldoni was one of 10 plaintiffs who launched a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for its coverage of Livelyâs accusations. A spokesperson for the The New York Times told Us that the outlet is planning to âvigorously defend against the lawsuit.â
Johnny Depp shakes hands with attorney Benjamin Chew as he arrives for closing arguments in the Depp v. Heard trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 27, 2022. STEVE HELBER/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesBaldoniâs Wayfarer Studios also filed a lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Livelyâs publicist, Leslie Sloane, seeking $400 million in damages. The lawsuit, filed in January, included accusations of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and other claims.
âThis lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her teamâs duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media,â Freedman told Us at the time. âIt is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret. Blake Lively was either severely misled by her team or intentionally and knowingly misrepresented the truth.â
In response, Lively slammed the legal action taken against her.
Courtesy Sony Pictures Ent.âThis latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender,â the statement read. âWayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the publicâs ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.â
Related: Every Counterclaim Made in Justin Baldoniâs New York Times Lawsuit
Justin Baldoni is pushing back against the accusations made by his It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, December 31. Baldoni, 40, is suing The New York Times for $250 million, alleging libel and false light invasion of privacy for a story the paper ran on December 21. The article, [âŠ]
Livelyâs legal team accused Baldoni and his associates of trying to âshiftâ the focus onto her.
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âThey are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni. The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer. The evidence will also show that Sony asked Ms. Lively to oversee Sonyâs cut of the film, which they then selected for distribution and was a resounding success,â the statement continued.
The statement concluded: âTheir response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, itâs her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing. In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Livelyâs complaint, and it will fail.â
The larger trial for Lively and Baldoni is set to begin on March 9, 2026.
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