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STORYLINE:
Taylor Swift can answer questions in October — if she is forced — from attorneys involved in the sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit actor Blake Lively brought against Justin Baldoni stemming from their roles in the movie “It Ends With Us,” but she doesn’t have much to offer, her lawyer said Friday.
Attorney J. Douglas Baldridge noted in a letter to the New York federal judge presiding over the dispute that "we have consistently maintained that my client has no material role in this action.”
“Further, my client did not agree to a deposition, but if she is forced into a deposition, we advised (after first hearing about the deposition just three days ago) that her schedule would accommodate the time required during the week of October 20 if the parties were able to work out their disputes,” Baldridge said.
Lively sued Baldoni last December, alleging sexual harassment. Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. A judge dismissed Baldoni’s claims in June.
Attorney Matthew Bruno, representing Lively and citing the period when depositions can be taken nearing an end, complained in a letter to the judge Friday about Baldoni attorneys, calling it “grossly irresponsible to delay scheduling the deposition of a witness of this kind until the last minute.”
Bruno said a late-October deposition of Swift and subsequent necessary delays could jeopardize a March trial date.
“We do not consent to any depositions — let alone depositions of third parties with only tangential relevance to the claims or defenses in this case — being taken weeks after the close of fact discovery,” he wrote.
In a letter on Thursday, Baldoni’s lawyers said they were not seeking a month-long extension of deadlines to interview prospective witnesses, but wanted only to depose Swift, who could only submit to a deposition from Oct. 20 to Oct. 25 “due to Ms. Swift’s pre-existing professional obligations.”
They said Swift had agreed to appear for a deposition but only after Oct. 20.
In her lawsuit, Lively accused Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni.
When Baldoni’s countersuit was dismissed, attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement that Lively’s claims that she was sexually harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear campaign intended to taint her reputation, were “no truer today than they were yesterday.”
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August 2024, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
Lively appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”
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