Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s refusal to head to mediation for their legal dispute could show what the “It Ends With Us” stars are really fighting for.
Baldoni and Lively “may go all the way to trial” if one of them won’t eventually agree to an apology and retract claims, a legal expert told Fox News Digital.
“Mediation is a good idea when the parties want to explore settlement,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explained. “Here, Lively and Baldoni dislike one another, are trying the case in the media and are nowhere near settlement.
“In fact, this case is more about sending a message and clearing their names in Hollywood than getting money out of the other side,” the West Coast Trial Lawyers founder added. “Without one of them agreeing to an apology and a retraction, which won’t happen, this case may go all the way to trial.”
BLAKE LIVELY AND JUSTIN BALDONI REFUSE MEDIATION, SHOW NO SIGN OF SETTLING LAWSUIT
Legal teams for both Lively and Baldoni told Judge Lewis Liman that “settlement discussions would be premature” in a joint letter filed Thursday in court and obtained by Fox News Digital. The letter also noted that “the parties agree that mediation and the Discovery Protocols … are inappropriate for this case.”
The federal judge agreed with the “It Ends With Us” stars and granted the order.
Lively and Reynolds’ decision to “push forward” with their lawsuit “full steam ahead” left PR expert Adrienne Uthe “shocked.”
“They need to settle, period. End the bloodbath. End the drama,” the founder of Kronus Communications told Fox News Digital. “Unless there is a bombshell hidden deep, deep within the lawsuit or potentially not even shared publicly yet, it won’t end well for them, which is beyond obvious at this point.”
However, not settling will affect Baldoni “very differently.”
“For Justin Baldoni, it will be one of the most stressful yet best things that has happened in his life,” Uthe explained. “He mentioned that last year was an excellent year for him monetarily, but it was highly emotional, and we can all see why.
“Not settling will allow us to see even more facts for ourselves and further our already existing consensus (per social media) that he is in the right on this one,” she added. “He may not be perfect, but he’s certainly not the monster that the Lively team is trying to portray him to be. Not settling will start yet another hero’s arc journey in the ‘men’s corner,’ but this time, for Mr. Baldoni, I see an even more fruitful career coming for him.”
BLAKE LIVELY VS. JUSTIN BALDONI: EVERYTHING TO KNOW
The move comes as Lively’s legal team began the hunt for additional evidence to prove Baldoni spearheaded a smear campaign against the actress. Her lawyers subpoenaed phone records of Baldoni and others involved in the courtroom showdown over the alleged plot to ruin the actress’s reputation.
“Ms. Lively has initiated discovery that will expose the people, tactics and methods that have worked to ‘destroy’ and ‘bury’ her reputation and family over the past year,” Lively’s lawyers, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, slammed the move as a “fishing expedition.”
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Legal experts explained requesting phone records “is not uncommon” and can “be used to substantively refute a claim.”
“While some of the information obtained from the phone companies may prove useful in detailing with whom the defendants spoke and texted, and for how long, any benefit obtained from the records is likely to be minimal in proving Lively’s case,” Ethan Krasnoo, partner at Reavis Page Jump LLP, told Fox News Digital.
“Merely because a defendant spoke with or texted an individual – which the records may show – does not in of itself implicate them in a wrongful action, and Lively has already obtained text messages from some of the relevant parties, which constitutes more direct evidence than phone logs.”
In December, Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional affliction of emotional distress, negligence and more against Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights department and later in federal court.
Baldoni, in his own lawsuit filed in January, insisted that Lively had “falsely” accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation after the fallout of the movie’s press tour after the actress took control of the film. Baldoni’s legal team claimed Lively had no evidence of a deliberate smear campaign and instead worked to repair her reputation by accusing the actor and others of sexual harassment.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Since Lively’s case hinges on the existence of the smear campaign allegedly initiated by Baldoni, Rahmani expects the judge to order phone records to be produced.
WATCH: JUSTIN BALDONI’S LAWYERS ‘HAVE DONE A MASTERFUL JOB CHANGING THE NARRATIVE’ IN BLAKE LIVELY’S CASE: EXPERT
“Lively is trying to prove that Baldoni and his PR team knew the sexual harassment happened, but they tried to blame the victim and shift the narrative to Lively making it up because she wanted creative control,” Rahmani said. “In Hollywood and in the courtroom, the best defense is often a good offense, and Lively’s lawyers want to access the communications between Baldoni and his publicists to establish their knowledge of the harassment and the smear campaign.
“Subpoenas like this are common in litigation,” the legal expert noted. “The parties themselves have to produce anything relevant to the lawsuit. And even third parties can be compelled to turn over relevant text messages and emails. If the scope of the subpoena is too broad, in terms of time, people or content, the lawyers will object or file motions to quash or for a protective order, and a judge can limit the subpoena.
“Because Lively’s case depends on the existence of the smear campaign, and because it would be directly relevant to her damages if true, I expect the judge to order Baldoni and his publicists to produce communications between them related to Lively.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for Lively and Baldoni for comment.
