Whoa! We did not see this one coming!
It’s been several weeks now since judge Lewis Liman dismissed Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. At the time, he informed the It Ends with Us star that he could refile amended claims, which his lawyer Bryan Freedman promised they would be doing:
“The Court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations. This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign, which Ms. Lively’s own team conveniently describes as ‘untraceable’ because they cannot prove what never happened.”
But hey! There’s been a change of plans!
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On Tuesday, the legal eagle revealed in statement to People that his client no longer will be moving forward with amended claims — but that he still plans on fighting Blake’s allegations:
“The Court’s decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign, and it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively’s claims.”
Freedman added:
“Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations. Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us.”
We guess we’ll hear more about exactly what those “legal options” are in the coming days!
In response, a rep for Blake told the outlet:
“The Court dismissed the frivolous $400 million Baldoni-Wayfarer lawsuit in its entirety. In the days that followed, Baldoni’s lawyer said the judge’s decision to dismiss their case was not a big deal as they promised to amend and refile it. As per usual, that was not true. The Court’s dismissal of Baldoni’s sham lawsuit was a total victory after all.”
Yeesh!
What are YOUR reactions to this breaking news, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments down below!
[Images via Variety & NBC/YouTube]
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