Entertainment
Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds Celebrate ‘Another Simple Favor’ Amid Legal Battle
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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds enjoyed an upbeat date night at the NYC premiere of “Another Simple Favor,” taking a break from the drama surrounding their legal battle with Justin Baldoni
In a pastel, mint-green Greek goddess gown, Blake, 37, looked like a million bucks, playfully fanning out her dress and posing for photographers.
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Ryan, 48, looked snazzy in a gray plaid suit.
The couple, in high spirits, even did a little dance move.
Others at the glitzy event included director Paul Feig and Lively’s co-star Anna Kendrick.
Lively’s attendance comes amid the legal battle between the couple and her last movie, “It Ends with Us.”
Just this past week, Baldoni’s legal team blasted a tactic by Lively and Reynolds as “super shady.”
Months before things blew up between Lively and Baldoni, her legal team filed a lawsuit to get their hands on damaging texts in their case against the “It Ends with Us” director.
To keep it on the down-low, Lively’s team filed it under a plaintiff no one would recognize, “Vanzan,” in court papers obtained “Extra.”
The docs, from September 27, claimed, “This action arises out of an ongoing campaign to damage Plaintiff’s business and Plaintiff’s reputation… Defendants have certain contractual and confidentiality obligations and obligations of good faith and loyalty to Plaintiff regarding Plaintiff’s business and reputation, by way of oral promises and/or written agreements.”
According to Deadline, Justin’s PR team was subpoenaed in October. The subpoena “concerns, refers, relates and applies to any and all electronic records, data, documents, and communications in Your possession, custody or control collected from a cellular telephone containing the requested information.”
After successfully obtaining texts, the lawsuit was dropped, only for Blake to then file the now infamous sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told the outlet, “Ms. Lively’s and Mr. Reynolds’ company Vanzan had nothing to do with this case and they knew it. This sham lawsuit was designed to obtain subpoena power without oversight or scrutiny, and in doing so denied my clients the ability to contest the propriety, nature and scope of the subpoena.”
Along with saying that “there is nothing normal about this,” Freedman argued, “A party with no connection to these proceedings asserting a breach of contract against another party they claim not to be able to identify does not qualify. This was done in bad faith and constitutes a flagrant abuse of process.”
Lively’s legal team denies any wrongdoing. Her lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb said, “There is nothing untoward here — just conscientious and thorough investigation. The Lively parties acted upon reliable information, and employed common tools such as Doe lawsuits and civil subpoenas that are entirely lawful and appropriate for pursuing claims and uncovering the identity of unknown perpetrators of unlawful activities.”
