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Blake Lively is dropping one aspect of her legal complaint against Justin Baldoni.
Not long after Baldoni’s team opted against dragging Taylor Swift into his legal war on Lively, his team began seeking Lively’s health records.
This week, we learned that she has amended her complaint, dropping specific allegations.
Baldoni supporters are pointing to this as either Lively’s case faltering or as some sort of inconsistency. What’s really going on?
Blake Lively is asking the court to modify her legal complaint
On Monday, June 2, Page Six and other outlets reported on court documents from a recent filing by Blake Lively.
She is asking to withdraw one particular aspect of her legal complaint: emotional distress.
Lively is requesting to withdraw the claim that she suffered from “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and “negligent infliction of emotional distress” due to Baldoni’s alleged misconduct.
It is not difficult to guess what might have caused Lively to withdraw this aspect of her December 2024 lawsuit.
See, Baldoni’s team has requested that she sign a release so that they can pour over Lively’s medical records — including mental health records.
Team Baldoni argues that accessing these records is vital to combating the allegations of “emotional distress.”
What does Team Baldoni say about this?
“Instead of complying with the Medical RFPs, Ms. Lively’s counsel recently advised us, in writing, that Ms. Lively is withdrawing her [infliction of emotional distress] Claims,” Baldoni’s attorneys told Page Six.
However, her withdrawal is not automatic.
Instead, the court will decide whether to allow the withdrawal of this aspect of the claim.
We of course cannot speak to the motives or private thoughts of Blake Lively or Justin Baldoni.
However, it is an extremely common tactic in legal battles for one party to attempt to root around in uncomfortable records, be they financial or medical or otherwise.
Some courts will dismiss these “fishing expeditions,” but not always.
Meanwhile, it is easy to guess why someone might choose to strategically amend a complaint to protect their own private records.
Late last year, Lively was the target of a harassment campaign. But what does her team say?
What do her attorneys say about this?
Lively’s attorneys stated that the altered complaint is “a routine part of the litigation process that is being used as a press stunt.”
They noted that they, in turn, are simply “preparing our case for trial by streamlining and focusing it.”
Team Lively continued:
“The Baldoni-Wayfarer strategy of filing retaliatory claims has exposed them to expansive new damages claims under California law, rendering certain of Ms. Lively’s original claims no longer necessary.”
Her attorneys emphasized:
“Ms. Lively continues to allege emotional distress, as part of numerous other claims in her lawsuit, such as sexual harassment and retaliation, and massive additional compensatory damages on all of her claims.”
