Automatically deleted smear campaign messages spark legal controversy

Just when I thought about the sexual harassment and retaliation allegations that Blake Lively made against her And it ends with us Actor and director Justin Baldoni can’t stir up any more controversy Another simple favor The actress may have dug a loyal smoking gun.

“Defendants have dropped the ball at every turn in the discovery process, either by failing to produce documents, or by improperly concealing them in attorney-client privilege, forcing at least a dozen discovery-related motions to date against Defendants and allied third parties,” allege the much-revised penalties sought to be filed today by Lively’s Manatt, Phelps & Co. Phillips, Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Lawyers.

Bolstered by a very similar filing on Wednesday from Baldoni’s former public relations firm and third-party defendant Jonesworks LLC, Lively’s team is subpoenaing Baldoni, his inner circle at Wayfarer Studios and the likes of publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Appel over the intentional use of Signal, voice memos and other software for a smear campaign against the actress. At the risk of disproving a court order based on evidence from months ago, Baldoni’s executives and employees’ goal for using Signal again in 2024 is said to be to “either destroy relevant communications or fail to maintain them in real time.”

AKA: They knew they might be taken to court and wanted to cover the subcontracted routes, as Lively’s lawyers predicted for the Wayfarer defendants who benefited too late.

It should be noted that Baldoni and his crew have always denied Lively’s allegations about what happened on the set of the domestic violence film distributed by Sony.

Even with some texts and emails that have come out aimed at countering their argument, Baldoni’s team has rejected from the beginning the idea that they would orchestrate a multi-pronged smear campaign against Lively in mid-2024. Instead, they claim a harsh online backlash against gossip girl The star was an “organic” member of the regular Joes and Josephines who were highlighting what an insufferably elitist Lively could be.

Early this year, Baldoni sued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and others for defamation in a $400 million countersuit. As a legal move, the measure received a lot of attention and helped present a conflicting narrative, but it was also rescinded last summer.

There has long been a suspicion that there was something to explain the lack of significant chatter about a supposed attempt to smear and smear Lively online in the lead-up. IEWUThe film premieres in August 2024 and is concerned that the actress may turn on Baldoni, Signal information and more depositions with former Nathan employees such as Katherine Case and Breanna Butler have come out.

In fact, Stephanie Jones’ lawyers say the hits, so to speak, continued even after Lively first filed her claims against Wayfarer Studios co-founder Baldoni with the California Department of Civil Rights last December, and as she prepared to formally file her lawsuit. Jane the Virgin alum. “The recently presented evidence reveals that, shortly after Lively initiated this action, Abel, along with Freedman and others, was actively directing social media messages intended to promote Baldoni and disparage Lively,” Jones’ legal team wrote in its own memo, referring to Baldoni’s lead attorney Brian Freedman.

Today, Jones’ lead attorney Christine Tahler added to Deadline: “Jane Appel conspired with Melissa Nathan, Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer to orchestrate a smear campaign and did so secretly, outside of Juniorex and behind Stephanie Jones’ back. The conversations were moved to an auto-delete platform and the evidence was destroyed. There can only be one reason for this. They had something to hide and they wanted to Make sure it will be deleted. “It’s never discovered.”

Adding to this, seeking financial and injunctive relief, Blake’s team’s 30-page memo declares: “Now that the dust has settled, and the discovery of facts and depositions have been closed, two things have become clear: (1) despite Defendants’ clumsy efforts to cover their tracks, there is strong evidence that the retaliation campaign was in fact carried out as planned, and (2) Defendants flouted orders This Court, and have destroyed and/or failed to preserve or produce additional material and evidence relevant to the matter, the absence of which they intend to unfairly exploit to their advantage.

And while the much-trolled case heads toward trial in March 2026 in New York City, Lively and Abel’s crew also want Judge Louis Lehman to take on one of the Wayfarer Boys and their companions’ key defenses.

Using no small degree of restraint compared to previous filings in this matter being fought in and out of the courts, Lively’s Esra Hudson team says:

“Accordingly, to address prejudice caused by the stolen evidence, Ms. Lively respectfully seeks the following adverse inference: Defendants intentionally deleted evidence relevant to this lawsuit and failed to preserve it. Defendants expected to file a lawsuit with Ms. Lively by at least August 2024, but nonetheless chose to use communication methods that automatically delete, such as Signal and voice memos.” (For the Wallace Defendants), to discuss the implementation of the “digital campaign against Ms. Lively, and the Defendants’ failure to take affirmative steps to maintain such communications prior to December 20, 2024. You may assume from the Defendants’ failure to maintain the Signal Communications and Voice Memos that the Defendants did, in fact, carry out the plan recommended by TAG for which the Wayfarer Parties retained the Wallace Defendants and that the Defendants failed “Intentionally keeping their contacts private in order to hide this fact.”

AKA: Lively’s team says to Baldoni – you jumped right into this, didn’t you?

Baldoni’s rep, Melissa Nathan, who is also a defendant here, did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment from Wayfarer and the other defendants on Lively and Jonesworks’ filings and accusations.