Justin Baldoni's team blasts Blake Lively's gag order letter as 'an intimidation tactic'

In a new legal letter, attorneys for Justin Baldoni are condemning Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' recent request for an order that would curb public statements made by Baldoni's legal team.

In a court filing obtained by USA TODAY on Friday, Baldoni's legal counsel asked U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman to deny Lively and Reynolds' request for an "appropriate protective order" that would prevent Baldoni's legal team from issuing public statements on the case.

The letter, filed Thursday, calls the allegations in the actors' letter to the judge "inflammatory" and also denies violating any court rules with "extrajudicial statements" that would "materially" influence the case. The letter also notes that court rules allow lawyers "to make statements 'required to protect a client from the substantial prejudicial effect of recent publicity not initiated by the lawyer or the lawyer’s client.'"

This is applicable, Baldoni's team says, because of the aftermath of a New York Times article that publicized Lively's workplace harassment complaint filed in the California Civil Rights Department. Lively's complaint has been "utterly calamitous for" Baldoni and the other plaintiffs, "who instantly became objects of public scorn and contempt," Baldoni's lawyers say.

Blake Lively's attorneys reject 'gag order' accusation

Lively and Reynolds' legal team on Friday countered with a letter to the judge decrying this defense of "extrajudicial conduct" by legal counsel for the plaintiffs.

"Making a complaint about sexual harassment and retaliation in a lawsuit, which is also a protected activity, is covered by the litigation privilege," the letter, obtained by USA TODAY, reads. "On the other hand, relentlessly publicly attacking a plaintiff in a sexual harassment and retaliation case in the media and on social media is not a protected activity."

Lively's attorneys also pushed back against the assertion that they had asked the judge for a gag order: "Requiring counsel to heed the ethical rules that bind them is not a gag order; it is a mechanism that would ensure the proceedings in this Court are not prejudiced by counsel’s conduct outside of the courtroom."

Letter: Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios 'have been exiled from polite society'

The letter to the court goes on to detail the alleged impacts of Lively's accusations on Baldoni and his "It Ends with Us" production company Wayfarer Studios.

"Already, the Wayfarer Parties have been exiled from polite society and suffered damages totaling hundreds of millions of dollars due to Ms. Lively’s scorched-earth media campaign." Since the Times article, Lively's team has engaged in "a very much ongoing attempt to rehabilitate Ms. Lively’s image at the Wayfarer Parties’ expense," the letter claims.

Baldoni's legal team represents all plaintiffs in the case, including Wayfarer Studios, film producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, and public relations personnel Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, who on Jan. 16 sued Lively and Reynolds for defamation and extortion.

Baldoni's attorneys also accuse Lively's team of making public comments, including in response to behind-the-scenes footage from the controversial film that the actor's lawyers made public earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Baldoni's attorneys released a 10-minute video showing an intimate scene that Baldoni and Lively filmed for the movie, which was publicized by several media outlets. His team said the on-set videos "refute Ms. Lively's characterization of his behavior."

In response, Lively's legal team blasted the footage's release as a "stunt" by Baldoni's attorneys, as well as a "continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign," in a statement shared with USA TODAY.

Justin Baldoni's lawyers: Blake Lively's gag order request 'an intimidation tactic'

As a result of what Baldoni's team calls "a media feeding frenzy initiated by Ms. Lively," the plaintiffs' legal counsel "adamantly and in good faith believe that 'a public response is required in order to avoid prejudice to [their clients],'" the letter says, referring to a section of the American Bar Association's rules.

The letter concluded by taking another shot at Lively and Reynolds' "outrageous" gag order request.

"Having publicly made ruinous allegations that the Wayfarer Parties can prove are false, the Lively Parties now invoke attorney disciplinary rules as an intimidation tactic," the letter says. "The Lively Parties’ desire to force the Wayfarer Parties to defend themselves privately against allegations made publicly is not a proper basis for a gag order. It is tactical gamesmanship, and it is outrageous."

"If, as the Lively Parties’ letter suggests, such a protective order is formally requested, it should be denied."

Lawyers are due in court for a pretrial conference on Feb. 12.

What was in Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' gag order request?

In a letter to Judge Liman on Tuesday, attorneys for the A-list couple accused Baldoni and his legal team of continuing their "harassing and retaliatory media campaign" against Lively with "almost daily media statements or other releases to the press," according to court documents obtained at the time by USA TODAY.

Before Tuesday's letter, Lively and Reynolds' legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, in December, requesting that he refrain from making "defamatory and retaliatory statements relating to Ms. Lively." Around this time, a cease-and-desist was also sent to Baldoni and his business associates asking them to halt "all unlawful conduct toward the Lively-Reynolds parties and their affiliates."

"Virtually every day since, Mr. Freedman has given television interviews, appeared on podcasts, issued inflammatory written statements, and leaked information ... to the Hollywood press and tabloid media," Lively and Reynolds' attorneys said Tuesday.

The filing also claimed Freedman's "conduct threatens to, and will, materially prejudice both the Lively Case and the Wayfarer Case by tainting the jury pool."

What lawsuits have been filed over 'It Ends with Us'

In her California Civil Rights complaint and ensuing lawsuit, Lively claimed Baldoni, who was her director and co-star in "It Ends with Us," engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct on the set and orchestrated a smear campaign against her in retaliation for her calling out the alleged behavior.

On Dec. 31, both Lively and Baldoni's teams filed lawsuits, ramping up the legal drama over "It Ends with Us." Baldoni sued The New York Times for libel, seeking $250 million in damages. Meanwhile, Lively used her California complaint as a launching point to sue Baldoni for sexual harassment that day.

Baldoni's responding Jan. 16 lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds seeks $400 million in damages.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Contributing: Edward Segarra

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Justin Baldoni's team blasts Blake Lively's request for a gag order