Blake Lively has secured a significant legal victory in her ongoing dispute with Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director in It Ends with Us. A New York judge has granted her request to keep certain sensitive materials in the case confidential and accessible only to lawyers, marking one of her first major wins in the courtroom.
The actress, 37, is suing Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment on set and for orchestrating a subsequent smear campaign against her. Baldoni denies the allegations and has filed a $400m countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds. The ruling, issued by Judge Lewis Liman, applies to what he described as “highly personal and intimate information about third parties,” including medical records, trade secrets, and security measures.
Lively’s attorney, Meryl Governski, argued during a telephone conference that there was an “insatiable appetite” for case details and that the defendants had “bragged in text messages about being able to publish information without fingerprints.” She stressed that medical and mental health information, as well as private conversations with unrelated third parties, had virtually no evidentiary value but high public relations value if leaked.
Judge Liman agreed, stating that “the risk of disclosure is great” and that confidentiality would speed up the discovery process. He limited the “attorneys’ eyes only” designation to material highly likely to cause significant business, commercial, financial, or privacy injury. Neither Lively nor Baldoni will have direct access to this information.
Baldoni’s legal team did not object to keeping some material from the press but argued that restricting their clients’ access would hinder litigation and could lead to further legal challenges. They also accused Lively of trying “to shield, from public view, documents and information exchanged herein” after her team had previously publicised her claims widely.
The ruling comes after Lively reported receiving “violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications” following her initial statements. Baldoni’s team had launched a website containing documents and text messages related to the case, prompting Lively’s request for tighter controls.
