Stop The Discovery!: New York Times Granted Win In Blake Lively Vs. Justin Baldoni Clash As Dismissal Pondered By Judge

deadline.com:

The New York Times isn’t yet out of the legal fight between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, but the paper now doesn’t have to worry about lawyers for the It Ends With Us director rooting around their business.

In a swipe to Baldoni’s side, Judge Lewis J. Liman today granted the Gray Lady’s request for stay of discovery as he weighs the NYT’s motion to be dismissed from the $400 million and more case that was birthed out of Lively’s December 20 sexual harassment and retaliation complaint with California’s Civil Rights department. “The Wayfarer Parties are unlikely to be unfairly prejudiced by a stay while the Court decides the pending motion,” the federal judge wrote of Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, its CEO, financier Steve Sorowitz, and publicist Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel in a brisk five-page order Tuesday. “The NY Times did not delay filing its motion; it filed the motion within 21 days of being served,” he added. “The Court intends to address the motion to dismiss promptly after it is fully submitted.

To the extent that the Wayfarer Parties are concerned about delay, they have it within their power to accelerate their contemplated further amended complaint or their opposition to the motion to dismiss.

The Wayfarer Parties themselves suggest that discovery from the NY Times is unlikely to be voluminous.” Originally pulled into this sprawling conflict because of their text message heavy December 21 article “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” about Lively’s allegations, the NYT was initially sued in LA Superior Court by Baldoni and gang for $250 million on New Year’s Eve, the same day the actress officially sued her IEWU co-star.