Blake Lively is examining her financial status as the actress's trial against her "It Ends With Us" co-star, Justin Baldoni, inches closer. Just a month before the legal battle commences, her attorneys have shared insights into the alleged financial toll the legal battle has taken on her career.
In Lively's memorandum filed on April 17 in opposition to Wayfarer Studios' motion in limine, her expert, Dr. Ashlee Humphreys, a professor of marketing communications at Northwestern University, alleges that Baldoni's use of the retaliatory phrases "tone deaf," "bully," and "mean girl" during the alleged smear campaign against her amounted to "176,738,781 impressions, with an estimated cost of approximately $36.5 million to $40.5 million." The filing also claims that "retaliatory statements" made by the "It Ends With Us" director's attorney, Bryan Freedman, during the legal battle amounted to "116,959,530 impressions, with a calculated amount of $24,375,267."
Lively's expert, Humphreys, provided a calculation for reputational harm damages by quantifying the reach of the alleged phrases and statements, identifying "the number of impressions providing the basis for each" and calculating "particular dollar damages."
For his part, Baldoni argued in his opposition to Lively's memorandum, filed on April 20 and obtained by E! News, that Lively's reputation preceded their legal battle. He claimed that being called a "mean girl," "bully," difficult to work with, or "tone deaf" during the alleged smear campaign "did not cause further harm to her existing reputation." The filing alleges that these claims "were widely circulated before Lively encountered" Baldoni and his associates.
Baldoni's filing also claims that while Lively "plans to ask the jury for tens of millions of dollars in damages" based on allegations that Baldoni's actions "tarnished her previously 'sterling' reputation," evidence will show that she had already soured her own reputation before their legal battle.
Earlier this month, a New York judge dismissed 10 of Lively's 13 allegations against Baldoni and his associates. The actress will present her allegations of retaliation, breach of contract, and aiding and abetting retaliation during the trial beginning on May 18, according to an April 2 order obtained by E! News. Although the judge dismissed her allegations of sexual harassment, he noted that there is "some direct evidence that the plan to destroy Lively and her career was put into action."
The judge wrote, "The parties fiercely dispute the extent to which the backlash against Lively was 'organic' or 'artificial,' and which steps the Wayfarer Parties may have taken to protect themselves (versus which ones they may have taken to destroy Lively personally and her career). A jury can and should decide those questions."
