Blake Lively received a stark warning from the judge in her legal case with Justin Baldoni, cautioning that her celebrity status may not last forever.
During an emergency hearing this week, an exasperated-sounding Judge Lewis Liman warned the actress that ‘celebrity is fleeting.’
The judge acknowledged he is now familiar with both Lively and Baldoni due to their fame, but confessed he was unaware of them prior to the case.
These comments were made during a session on the eve of Lively’s scheduled deposition, where Baldoni’s lawyer, Kevin Fritz, argued that Lively, 37, was receiving preferential treatment merely because of her celebrity status.
Judge Liman, however, stopped Fritz, informing him that ‘there are problems that the court is trying to deal with and it’s helpful for me if you frame it in language and words that the court is accustomed to.’
‘It does not help me – and it’s not helped me in this case – to start throwing around accusations,’ the judge said, noting that it is a ‘serious issue.’
During an emergency hearing this week, an exasperated-sounding Judge Lewis Liman warned the actress that ‘celebrity is fleeting.’
Baldoni’s attorney complained that Lively, 37, was being given ‘special treatment simply because she’s a celebrity.’
‘I’m well aware that your client [Baldoni] is a person of high profile. So is the plaintiff [Lively],’ he continued. ‘I have told you before, before I came into this case, I didn’t know who your client was, I did not know who the plaintiff was. Their names were unknown to me.
‘As far as I’m concerned, whether they have celebrity at the moment or not is irrelevant.’
Then, he delivered the final blow.
‘Celebrity, as you know, and everybody knows, can be fleeting. It’s also not relevant to the court,’ he said.
‘So, your point is well taken that celebrity is irrelevant. Now let’s make it irrelevant. We don’t need to talk about it.’
‘Celebrity, as you know, and everybody knows, can be fleeting. It’s also not relevant to the court,’ said Judge Liman.
Lively has allegedly sought to tightly control the scope of her pending deposition amid her ongoing sexual harassment legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star and director Baldoni, 41.
She was granted her request to choose the location of her deposition – which was this week postponed to July 31.
She also reportedly requested for it to be limited to just seven hours, according to Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press, a demand that came to light after she suffered a setback when one of her claims was tossed.
A federal judge dismissed Lively’s claims against social media PR expert Jed Wallace. The judge said that Lively can either refile her claims against Wallace in another jurisdiction or amend her existing complaint. Wallace’s lawyer indicated that if their client is brought back into the case, he would demand another deposition.
After the emergency hearing this week, Judge Liman ordered Lively to hand over to three years of her business records to Baldoni’s team, but not information about her net worth.
Lively, he said, had to prove if her ‘income and expenses have changed’ since the alleged smear campaign.
‘Lively must have some basis for stating that she has suffered economic damages,’ the ruling stated.
The Gossip Girl actress previously claimed that Baldoni’s attacks in the press and on social media caused sales of her haircare line ‘Blake Brown’ to decrease by between 56 percent and 78 percent.
Lively has has allegedly sought to tightly control the scope of the deposition amid her ongoing legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star and director Baldoni, 41.
The Gossip Girl actress previously claimed that Baldoni’s attacks in the press and on social media caused sales of her haircare line ‘Blake Brown’ to decrease by between 56 percent and 78 percent.
In December, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni accusing him of sexual harassment and manufacturing a smear campaign aimed to ‘destroy’ her reputation.
In a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane, Baldoni accused the parties of defamation and extortion.
The messy legal battle has only snowballed in the months since – and has reportedly decimated Lively’s friendship with her close pal Taylor Swift.
Baldoni’s team subpoenaed Lively for text messages, emails and any other messages between the friends, and, in one embarrassing text exchange, Lively appeared to refer to herself as the Game of Thrones character Khaleesi, and to Swift as one of her ‘dragons.’
Baldoni’s filing also claimed that Swift – whose subpoena to appear as a witness was later withdrawn – was present at a meeting convened by Lively at her New York penthouse to discuss It Ends With Us script changes, though sources have denied her involvement in the film.
In June, Baldoni’s suit was dismissed by Judge Liman, who previously hinted at his frustration with the case, calling it a ‘feud between two PR firms.’
