NEW YORK (AP) — Singer Taylor Swift can reply questions in October — if she is compelled — from attorneys concerned within the sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit actor Blake Vigorous introduced in opposition to Justin Baldoni stemming from their roles within the film “It Ends With Us,” however she does not have a lot to supply, her lawyer mentioned Friday.
Legal professional J. Douglas Baldridge famous in a letter to the New York federal choose presiding over the dispute that “we have now constantly maintained that my consumer has no materials function on this motion.”
“Further, my client did not agree to a deposition, but if she is forced into a deposition, we advised (after first hearing about the deposition just three days ago) that her schedule would accommodate the time required during the week of October 20 if the parties were able to work out their disputes,” Baldridge mentioned.
Vigorous sued Baldoni final December, alleging sexual harassment. Baldoni and manufacturing firm Wayfarer Studios countersued Vigorous and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. A choose dismissed Baldoni’s claims in June.
Legal professional Matthew Bruno, representing Vigorous and citing the interval when depositions may be taken nearing an finish, complained in a letter to the choose Friday about Baldoni attorneys, calling it “grossly irresponsible to delay scheduling the deposition of a witness of this kind until the last minute.”
Bruno mentioned a late-October deposition of Swift and subsequent essential delays may jeopardize a March trial date.
“We do not consent to any depositions — let alone depositions of third parties with only tangential relevance to the claims or defenses in this case — being taken weeks after the close of fact discovery,” he wrote.
In a letter on Thursday, Baldoni’s legal professionals mentioned they weren’t looking for a month-long extension of deadlines to interview potential witnesses, however needed solely to depose Swift, who may solely undergo a deposition from Oct. 20 to Oct. 25 “due to Ms. Swift’s pre-existing professional obligations.”
They mentioned Swift had agreed to look for a deposition however solely after Oct. 20.
In her lawsuit, Vigorous accused Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to break her popularity following a gathering wherein she and Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni.
When Baldoni’s countersuit was dismissed, lawyer Bryan Freedman mentioned in an announcement that Vigorous’s claims that she was sexually harassed on the movie set, after which subjected to a secret smear marketing campaign supposed to taint her popularity, have been “no truer today than they were yesterday.”
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance however takes a darkish flip into home violence, was launched in August 2024, exceeding field workplace expectations with a $50 million debut. However the film’s launch was shrouded by hypothesis over discord between Vigorous and Baldoni.
Vigorous appeared within the 2005 movie “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV collection “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 earlier than starring in movies together with “The Town” and “The Shallows.”
Baldoni starred within the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 movie “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a guide difficult conventional notions of masculinity.
