Baldoni and Lively have been embroiled in a legal battle since Christmas last year after the Gossip Girl alum sued her It Ends With Us co-star for alleged sexual harassment.
Baldoni, who also directed the movie, then filed a countersuit against Lively and her husband, Reynolds, for $400 million for claims of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and more.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
There have been a lot of allegations made between the celebs’ respective legal teams, as Lively also accused Baldoni and his team, including his company Wayfarer Studios, of concocting a plan to ‘destroy her reputation’ and of orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
A New York judge, Lewis Linman, has since set a date for their trial, with the feud expected to have its first pre-trial hearing on Monday (February 3) ahead of its first trial proceedings on March 9 next year.
Now, Lively and Reynolds reportedly told Linman on Thursday that they will seek to drop Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit.
Justin Baldoni filed a countersue for $400 million (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Vital Voices Global Partnership)
Michael Gottlieb, an attorney for the Hollywood couple, told the judge that ‘the Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint,’ according to documents seen by Variety.
The outlet reported Linman is expected to schedule a deadline for them to submit paperwork supporting their request.
The couple’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, who has also been named in Baldoni’s legal action as a defendant, also submitted a similar request to the court on Wednesday.
Attorney’s for Lively and Reynolds have further asked the court to consider issuing Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, with a ‘gag order’ over so-called ‘extrajudicial statements’ he has made.
Freedman compiled evidence, such as documents, video footage and text messages between Baldoni and Lively, and has put them on a website.
Lively and Baldoni starred together in It Ends With Us (Columbia Pictures)
The legal team claim the lawyer’s actions pose a ‘serious risk’ of ‘tainting the jury pool’ and possibly prejudicing the future trial.
He also spoke about the case on TV shows and documentaries, including The Megyn Kelly Show and Hulu’s documentary, IMPACT x Nightline: Blake vs. Justin.
Speaking to Deadline, Freedman commented: “All these motions to dismiss are just yet another attempt by Ms. Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Leslie Sloan to hide and delay the discovery of the hundreds of pages of true facts and well-documented information that we remain dedicated to providing publicly, with full transparency.”
After Lively filed her complaint on December 31, she told The New York Times: “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”
