Justin Baldoni's legal team have been sanctioned by a federal judge
for filing a lawsuit that was factually baseless
and the media are not covering it.
We need to talk about how the PR campaign never ended.
It's still going on. On Friday,
Judge Lyman
granted sanctions against the law firms representing Justin Baldoni.
If you remember, he's being sued for sexual harassment
and launching a retaliatory smear campaign.
In response,
Baldoni filed his own four hundred million dollar countersuit,
alleging a conspiratorial plot by Blake Lively,
her husband Ryan Reynolds,
her publicist Leslie Sloan,
and his former publicist Stephanie Jones to defame and extort him.
Now, the judge threw out his entire lawsuit back in June,
but this week
he ruled that Baldoni's lawsuit was so legally frivolous
and factually baseless as to violate Rule 11
should never have been filed,
calling out that Baldoni's team
intentionally loaded their lawsuit with additional plaintiffs
that had no business being there,
with the judge saying the Wayfarer parties have not identified
even an arguable basis in law or fact
for any Wayfarer party other than Baldoni or Wayfarer
to assert these claims.
A claim by a person that a defendant has committed a tort
is not to be taken lightly.
It can carry reputational consequences.
The judge specifically stating
what we've all been saying for over a year
the Baldoni's lawsuit never stood a chance in court.
It was filed entirely for PR,
loaded with over exaggerated claims
and a fake Story that they couldn't back up with any facts,
all with a single purpose
to generate damaging headlines
they knew would harm lively and Reynolds reputations.
As a result,
the judge granted lively and Reynolds request for sanctions,
issuing a public reprimand
against both of the law firms
that brought the lawsuit on behalf of Baldoni.
And while that might not seem like much,
it's a permanent black Mark on the reputations of both
line of Fredman and Meister Silgan. Fine,
that could have an impact not just in this case,
but in any of their future litigation,
and could be used to show that they have a history of shady behavior
and misconduct. Now,
you would think that a federal judge
ruling that Baldoni filed a fatally flawed
and baseless lawsuit as a PR stunt
would generate some headlines,
but as of yet, not a single media outlet is covering this.
Instead, the headlines are talking about Baldoni's massive legal wins
this past week. And what were those legal wins?
Well, first they were granted a one week extension,
but they had to ask for because,
and I'm deadly serious,
Blake Lively's legal team have so much evidence and so many witnesses
that Baldoni's team can't be ready in time.
His other big win last week
was that fully half of his countersuit against Stephanie Jones
was ripped up, thrown in the trash,
and dismissed with prejudice,
meaning he cannot revive those claims.
After a year of bragging how Strong.
His case is only two actionable claims are heading to court
against Stephanie Jones, not Blake Lively.
Not that you would get that from reading the headlines.
So why are these obvious losses being touted
and spun as wins for Baldoni?
that's because the authors are Tatiana Siegel and Elizabeth Rosner,
journalists that you'll remember,
Baldoni's team were actively planting stories with.
And we know that
because we've seen the text messages of them doing exactly that.
So it's not really a surprise to see them spinning.
Baldoni getting yet more claims tossed out of court
and his team begging the court for more time
because of the volume of evidence
that Lively's team are potentially going to bring to trial.
Are somehow actually big wins for Justin,
while ignoring the reality
that his legal team got chewed out by a federal judge
for filing a frivolous lawsuit
as a PR stunt. Which should be a concern to all of us,
regardless of how you feel about Blake Lively or Justin Baldoni.
Because what we are watching in real time
and has now been confirmed by a federal judge,
is a powerful man using his resources
to manipulate the reality around his own alleged misconduct,
filing baseless litigation to the court,
knowing it will get thrown out,
but not before journalists report it as fact.
All to deliberately misinform public opinion
about an active sexual harassment case
and to discredit and destroy the women accusing him.
Women whose Careers, reputations,
and livelihoods have been systematically targeted
now for anything they did,
but simply for having had a negative experience with Justin Baldoni
and then choosing to honestly speak about it.
And the dangerous part is
it's working. And if it's working here,
then it's working elsewhere.
Most victims of this kind of coordinated
reputational destruction have none of the resources to fight back.
No team of lawyers, no public platform,
no A list husband willing to fight by your side.
Which is exactly what predatory men
like Justin Baldoni are counting on,
hoping that you'll pay attention to
who has the headlines and not who has the receipts.