Justin Baldoni has secured a small win in his ongoing legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively.
A New York judge has ruled that text messages between Lively and her close friend Taylor Swift are “relevant” to the case, granting Baldoni’s legal team access to them during the discovery phase.
However, the court also placed a protective order on the communications to ensure none are leaked to the public.
“Lively herself has identified Swift as someone likely to have knowledge about complaints or discussions regarding the working environment on the set of It Ends With Us,” Judge Lewis L. Liman wrote in a June 18 order obtained by E! News.
“Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues,” the judge continued, “the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims.”
Earlier, Baldoni and his legal team had tried to subpoena Swift, claiming Lively used her influence with the singer to push for greater creative control on the project. Swift’s spokesperson responded that she was “not involved in any casting or creative decisions,” prompting Baldoni’s attorneys to withdraw the subpoena.
Lively has filed a sexual harassment suit against Baldoni, accusing him of fostering a hostile work environment during the production of their 2024 film. Baldoni has denied all allegations. His countersuit—targeting both Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for defamation—was dismissed in early June. Judge Liman ruled that Baldoni had not provided sufficient evidence to support his claims.
Shortly after the dismissal, Lively took to Instagram Stories to share her thoughts.
“Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us,” she wrote on June 9. “While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back.”
She added, “With love and gratitude for the many who stood by me. Many of you I know. Many of you I don’t. But I will never stop appreciating or advocating for you.”
In response, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman criticized Lively’s reaction in a statement to E! News, saying her “predictable declaration of victory is false.”
“This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign,” he continued, “which Ms. Lively’s own team conveniently describes as ‘untraceable’ because they cannot prove what never happened.”
E! News has reached out to Baldoni, Lively, and Swift for comment on the latest court ruling but has not yet received responses.
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