The New York Occasions just isn’t going to take the Justin Baldoni defamation lawsuit sitting down. The paper of report is preventing the defamation lawsuit the It Ends With Us director filed in opposition to them with a authorized movement of their very own. It is one more chapter in a saga that has been ongoing since late final 12 months, when actress Blake Vigorous filed a lawsuit in opposition to Baldoni for his allegedly inappropriate on-set conduct.
In response to the $250 million lawsuit that Baldoni filed in opposition to the Occasions, the Gray Girl has struck again with a request to dismiss the lawsuit outright, claiming there may be inadequate proof that the newspaper acted with malice. All of this stems from the December 21, 2024 article titled “‘We Can Bury Anybody’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” whereby reporters Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire, and Julie Tate laid out the main points surrounding Vigorous’s accusations. What has resulted is a public Hollywood backwards and forwards so vitriolic, hundreds of phrases are written every day protecting the main points of the varied events’ actions and machinations.
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Blake Vigorous Responds to THR’s “Extraordinarily Offensive” Biblical Cowl Artwork Parody of Her Justin Baldoni Authorized Case
The authorized battle between Blake Vigorous and Justin Baldoni has reached a complete new degree with THR’s newest journal cowl.
So what are the brand new particulars we will disclose to you at this time? Head on all the way down to the part under and discover out.
The NYTimes Thinks Baldoni’s Lawsuit Is A Bunch Of Baloney (Mainly, We’re Paraphrasing)
The authorized submitting — which was posted on Friday — was obtained by TheWrap, and states that Baldoni’s defamation declare is “inadequate as a matter of legislation as a result of the challenged assertion is protected opinion and since the Wayfarer Events plead nothing however conclusory allegations relating to The Occasions’ purported precise malice.”
“Whereas the Wayfarer Events will doubtlessly proceed their efforts to litigate this case in opposition to Vigorous within the court docket of public opinion,” it went on, “their authorized claims in opposition to The Occasions haven’t any place on this court docket of legislation. The FAC ought to be dismissed.”
But it surely wasn’t the one authorized motion that occurred on Friday relating to the case. Simply earlier that day, one other choose refused a number of components of Vigorous’s authorized crew’s requests from their February 12, 2025, subpoena for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios’ telephone data courting way back to 2022. In keeping with U.S. District Decide Lewis Liman, the crew’s request was “overly broad and invasive,” and “overly intrusive and disproportionate to the wants of the case.” Baldoni’s camp known as the ruling a win, lambasting Vigorous’s efforts and portray them as additional proof of her malicious intent together with her lawsuit.
Baldoni’s authorized crew even launched an announcement on the matter to TheWrap, saying that, “The Courtroom put a cease to Ms. Vigorous’s egregious try to invade our shoppers’ privateness. This can be a large win.” Lawyer Bryan Freedman went on to explain the subpoena as, “a determined fishing expedition meant to salvage their debunked claims lengthy after they already savaged our shoppers’ reputations within the New York Occasions.”
It additionally feels value noting that Freedman has, himself, beforehand sued Baldoni on behalf of one other considered one of his shoppers who believed the actor/director stole a screenplay. As a result of, you recognize, nothing about this story is straightforward or clear-cut at this level. No surprise Hollywood and the media are so obsessive about it — who desires to wager somebody writes a screenplay about all of this and makes a film about it quickly, eh? They will name it The NeverEnding Story 2: Blake and Justin’s Revenge.
Supply:
TheWrap