Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s legal battle takes a new turn after dispute over key document timing

The ongoing legal fight between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken a dramatic new turn, after a mistake in the timeline of key evidence raised major doubts about the strength of the case. Reports revealed that Baldoni’s legal team is now questioning whether a subpoena used to obtain private text messages was ever valid, which could have serious consequences for the lawsuit.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, the issue revolves around a document that was used to request private messages from Stephanie Jones, who was previously Baldoni’s public relations manager. These messages were later shared with Lively and eventually formed the basis of her lawsuit against Baldoni. However, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has claimed that the document was never officially filed and may not be legally enforceable.
Freedman argued that the subpoena in question was supposedly dated October 1, 2024. However, no legal action had been filed by that date, which means the document should not have been considered valid. He also claimed that Jones shared the private messages not because of a legal obligation, but out of personal anger and a desire to damage her former client's reputation. In his words, Jones “knowingly and maliciously” shared confidential communications, and there was no real subpoena at the time, only a claim that one existed.
This dispute over dates could seriously weaken Lively’s case, as it raises concerns about how the evidence was obtained. Normally, subpoenas must be tied to an official case number and are only valid if they’re part of a properly filed lawsuit. Freedman stated that neither Jones nor anyone else had been named in any legal filing when the messages were shared, and he suggested that the subpoena might have been created after the fact to justify Jones’s actions.
Jones, on the other hand, reportedly claimed that she gave Lively the private messages in response to that very subpoena. Those texts later appeared in an article published by The New York Times in December and were retrieved from a work phone belonging to Jennifer Abel, a former employee involved in the case. The article brought the legal dispute into the public eye and added pressure to both parties.
The legal team representing Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, is from the New York-based law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Their legal filing required Jones to hand over all documents and communications related to Lively, Reynolds, and their businesses.
Experts pointed out that although early collection of evidence before a lawsuit is allowed in certain situations, such actions are usually limited to specific legal protections. If the timeline truly shows that the subpoena came before any legal action, it could throw much of the evidence into question and reshape the entire case.