Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Araya Doheny/Getty Images/Dimitrios Kambouris
Topics: Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Celebrity, US News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Celebrity, US News
Baldoni's team has filed a response to Reynold's motion to be dismissed from his $400 million lawsuit arguing why the Deadpool actor shouldn't be.
The It Ends With Us director filed a defamation and extortion counter-lawsuit in response to co-star Blake Lively suing him in December alleging sexual harassment and an alleged smear campaign against her - accusations Baldoni has denied.
In March, Reynolds filed a motion to be dismissed from Baldoni's $400 million counterlawsuit, his lawyers arguing the 'entirety' of Baldoni's case 'appears to be based on Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator'' but arguing the 'problem' is 'that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true' - noting Reynolds 'genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator'.
However, on April 1, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios parties' legal team filed a response for why Judge Lewis J. Liman shouldn't allowed Reynolds to be dismissed from the suit.
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Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, previously slammed Reynold's motion to dismiss, branding him a 'key player' in the 'smear campaign against Justin and the Wayfarer team since day one'.
And in Baldoni's team's legal filing in response, they've slammed Reynolds saying he 'pretends that the Wayfarer Parties’ First Amended Complaint (the 'FAC') fails to set forth any basis for his liability and that he merely acted as a supportive spouse' is 'not so' as quoted by People.
"The FAC specifically alleges ample facts to support the Wayfarer Parties’ claims against him, based on both his direct actions and his liability as a co-conspirator."
It continues, as quoted by Deadline: "Reynolds and Lively exploited Lively’s false insinuations to coerce the Wayfarer Parties to cede to them power and authority to which they were not entitled.
"Reynolds and Lively, along with the Sloane Parties, engaged in a coordinated effort to exaggerate benign interactions in service of a false narrative that Lively had been sexually harassed. They did so to instill terror in the Wayfarer Parties and leverage it to accumulate power."
Should Reynolds be dismissed from the lawsuit? Well, Baldoni's lawyers note in this 'extremely unlikely event' that the actor shouldn't be allowed to recover any attorneys' fees.
And a spokesperson for Reynolds has since responded.
In a statement shared April 3, a spokesperson for Reynolds said the Wayfarer parties 'finally realize the plain defects in their complaint'.
The spokesperson continued: "They once again claim defamation without alleging who was defamed, what specifically was said, or how anyone suffered actual harm.
"Unlike Mr. Baldoni, who built his brand pretending to be a man who is 'confident enough to listen' to the women in his life, Ryan Reynolds actually is that man and he will continue to support his wife as she stands up to the individuals who not only harassed her but then have retaliated against her.
"Under New York law, California law, and indeed in every jurisdiction of the United States this lawsuit not only fails but may result in the Wayfarer Parties covering Ryan’s costs and attorneys’ fees for bringing such a frivolous case in the first place."
UNILAD has contacted representatives for Justin Baldoni and Ryan Reynolds for comment.