Blake Lively won a judge’s ruling on Monday setting her deposition on her home turf, after her attorneys raised concerns that Justin Baldoni‘s lawyers were trying to turn it into a media spectacle.
Lively is set to be deposed on Thursday in her sexual harassment and retaliation suit against Baldoni, her director and co-star in “It Ends With Us.”
Baldoni’s side wanted to hold the deposition at the Park Avenue offices of Meister Seelig & Fein, one the firms working on his case. But in a motion last week, Lively’s team objected to that location, saying that Baldoni’s lawyers were setting up a media ambush, in which Lively would be besieged by paparazzi on her way in and out.
They also expressed concern that Baldoni’s team would invite social media influencers to sit in on the deposition, which is supposed to be a confidential proceeding.
Lively’s team asked Judge Lewis Liman to order the deposition to be held at an alternate location — which was kept redacted in the public version of the motion. They also asked the judge to order Baldoni’s side to turn over a list of everyone who will be present.
In a brief order on Monday, Liman granted the request. He directed Baldoni’s lawyers to turn over a list of attendees by noon on Tuesday, and also directed that the deposition be held at the place of Lively’s choosing. Lively’s team was also directed to make accommodations for Baldoni’s lawyers to print and copy documents.
Baldoni’s lead lawyer, Bryan Freedman, previously told People that he wanted to hold Lively’s deposition in public, suggesting in a rhetorical flourish that it be conducted at Madison Square Garden.
“Hold the deposition at MSG, sell tickets or stream it, and donate every dollar to organizations helping victims of domestic abuse,” Freedman told the outlet.
Lively’s side argued that such commentary showed that Freedman could not be trusted to keep things professional if the deposition were held on his turf. Mitchell Schuster, one of Baldoni’s lawyers, argued that concern was unsupported, and that it would be inconvenient for them to hold the deposition at some other location.
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