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In the midst of Blake Lively's prolonged court battle with actor-director Justin Baldoni, her legal team has increased security for "high-profile" text conversations and private discovery documents. To avoid possible leaks and irreversible harm, Lively's lawyers asked a Manhattan judge to keep certain "personal and intimate" chats private during a virtual session on March 6.
Lively's lawyer stated,
“We should not make the dozens of third parties run to the court for protection. We are supposed to reduce the burden on third parties. He should drop the third-party subpoena against the security firm that protects Lively and Reynolds.”
The case, which involves claims of defamation and sexual harassment, has garnered significant media attention, raising concerns about the personal safety of Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Meryl Governski, Lively's lawyer, argued that the opposing party should not have access to sensitive yet only marginally relevant conversations, particularly when they involve well-known third parties. She warned that if these messages were leaked:
"There is an insatiable appetite for any information about this case, no matter how salacious it is. "
Furthermore, Governski stated:
"There are 100 million reasons for these parties to leak information because the PR value is greater than complying with the court’s orders."
This suggests that Baldoni's legal team might intentionally release information to the media. She emphasized that to prevent misuse, certain materials should be classified as "attorney's eyes only."
Specifically, Lively's attorney asked that correspondence about:
Conversations about children, information on mental and physical health, private homes and safety precautions, and intimate and private discussions with unaffiliated third parties should be kept private and inaccessible to Baldoni and his staff.
The legal dispute began in December when Lively sued Baldoni—her co-star and director of It Ends With Us—alleging that he had sexually harassed her on set and later initiated a retaliatory online smear campaign against her. In response, Baldoni filed a defamation countersuit against Lively and Reynolds.
The situation has become even more complex due to the merging of the two lawsuits. Lively’s legal team insists that an expanded protective order is necessary to prevent sensitive documents from being weaponized against her and her family.
Blake Lively's legal team battles for enhanced protective order amid security concerns
While Lively’s legal team argues that additional protections are required, Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, dismissed the proposal as “overboard and unnecessary.” According to him:
"There is celebrity, because there are powerful people in the industry – somehow there is a different law that applies to them."
He contends that celebrities should not receive special treatment under the law.
Freedman also found it "offensive" to suggest that Baldoni’s team would violate the judge’s protection order, asserting that the current protections were already sufficient. However, Meryl Governski countered this claim by pointing out that Baldoni’s legal team had subpoenaed Lively and Reynolds' security firm for:
"all documents and communications concerning Lively and Reynolds and to Lively and Reynolds."
Lively’s legal team argued that if Baldoni’s side had no interest in the couple’s security measures, they should withdraw their demand for related documents. They stressed that since the case became public, Lively, her family, and her supporters have received threats, necessitating heightened security precautions.
Governski warned that revealing Lively and Reynolds’ security arrangements could cause “significant and irreparable harm.” Dismissing these concerns, Baldoni’s lawyer responded:
"No one is interested in what somebody’s security is doing."
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Lively has requested an expanded protective order, but the judge has yet to make a decision. A representative for Lively stated that their request aims to restrict only “a narrow category of already non-public information” from Baldoni’s team, whom they accused of “spending $100 million to destroy Ms. Lively and her family.”
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