Court rules against Blake Lively's subpoena for Justin Baldoni's phone records

A federal judge has ruled against Blake Lively’s subpoena for phone records amid their legal battle.

The court documents released on February 28 revealed that Judge Lewis J. Liman termed Lively's legal team's subpoena for all the communications held via Baldoni's phone all the way back to 2022 as “overly intrusive and disproportionate to the needs of the case."

“Lively has identified no means to segregate those numbers that may have some relevance to her case from those numbers that would have no relevance and would reveal sensitive personal information,” read the judge’s ruling, noting that she herself claimed the alleged retaliatory smear campaign against her began in August 2024.

Attorneys for Baldoni—who although denied launching any negative campaign—assured of their willingness to provide evidence to defend themselves, noting "Lively may make discovery requests tailored to those" she already identified in the alleged negative media campaign.

They pointed Lively's team “have not provided any basis for asserting an interest in the communications of non-parties.”

His lawyer Bryan Freedman also issued a statement to People Magazine, announcing a "big win" as that the judge “put a stop” to the actress-producer’s “egregious attempt to invade our clients’ privacy.

"No matter how the Lively Parties may try to spin this decision, the Court saw their efforts for what they really are: a desperate fishing expedition intended to salvage their debunked claims long after they already savaged our clients’ reputations in the New York Times," he continued.

Meanwhile, Lively's spokesperson hit back in a timely statement.

“What is Bryan Freedman hiding? After promising to release all the ‘receipts,’ Freedman ran into court to keep secret the phone records of who Baldoni [and his associates] were calling during their retaliatory campaign.”

The statement continued, “instead of getting these records from the phone carriers the way we initially requested, the judge has ruled that if we simply submit more specific requests, we will be able to get the records we are seeking. Today we will do that, we are submitting those requests directly to defendants involved and we look forward to seeing the records.”

For those unversed, It Ends With Us director and actor Baldoni is countersuing Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds as well as their publicist for defamation and extortion after the Gossip Girl alum accused him of sexual harassment during shoots.