lawsuits: Last News

ongoing legal battle with his “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Lively. The “Jane the Virgin” vet will appear on Monday’s episode of the “Gent’s Talk” podcast, though it remains to be seen if his emotional response seen in a teaser clip shared on TikTok is connected to his high-profile feud that erupted in December.“I had an intense year,” Baldoni tells host Samir Mourani during the interview, which was reportedly filmed a month before Lively publicly accused him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a retaliatory public smear campaign against her.NEW Justin Baldoni Episode Dropping Monday Gents Talk Podcast ft.

Anita Rachvelishvili was contracted to perform various shows at the legendary Manhattan opera, including “Aida,” “La Gioconda,” “Carmen” and “Don Carlo” from 2022 to 2025 — a deal worth upwards of $400,000.But instead of using her “sonorous voice” to belt out the famed works, the opera cancelled her remaining performances in January 2023, accusing Rachvelishvili, 40, of “deterioration of vocal quality,” she said in court papers.Rachvelishvili, who gave birth to her daughter in November 2021, admitted she was “temporarily limited in her very highest vocal range” after becoming a mom but said there was never an impact on her work.“She was nonetheless at all times ready, willing and able to perform the roles for which she was contracted,” she said in court papers, noting she has since “recovered her full vocal range.”She claims the Met and the union discriminated against her because she was pregnant.“I loved performing on the Met stage and looked forward to returning after the birth of my first child. I was shocked that I was not given a chance to recover and all of my contracts for the next two years were immediately canceled without pay,” she said in a statement.“After supporting the Met throughout the pandemic, I am disappointed, to say the least, at this harmful treatment.”Rachvelishvili, who hails from the former Soviet republic of Georgia and now lives in Tbilisi, was once heralded as the “greatest dramatic mezzo-soprano” by her Metropolitan Opera boss, Peter Gelb.

told Paula Froelich of NewsNation.“Blake apologized and they are talking again.”The pop princess was ruffled that her name was mentioned twice in Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively.”Taylor is annoyed she was brought into this,” a source told Froelich back in January. “She was supporting her friend — and went to her house to hang out, and now that [hangout] is part of [Baldoni’s] lawsuit.

NEW YORK — Paul Schrader, the writer of “Taxi Driver” and director of “American Gigolo,” has been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting his former personal assistant, firing her when she wouldn’t acquiesce to advances and reneging on a settlement that was meant to keep the allegations confidential.The former assistant, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, sued the filmmaker and his production company on Thursday. She is seeking a judge’s order to enforce the agreement after Schrader said he couldn’t go through with it.

A lawsuit in Los Angeles Federal Court seeks to strip the hit Broadway musical “The Buena Vista Social Club” of its trademarked rights to the name, The Post has learned.The suit, filed Thursday by touring company Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos & His Buena Vista Orchestra, was a counter-attack to cease-and-desist warnings by powerful music agency BMG’s label World Circuit, which licenses its “Buena Vista Social Club” trademark to the Broadway production — and wants the orchestra to drop the similar-sounding title.BMG has controlled the trademark since 1999, but the orchestra’s producers claim in the suit the that the agency used “fraud” to have it renewed in 2023.The orchestra’s suit alleges BMG used “misrepresentations” in its trademark renewal application by saying it was for “live [concert] performances” — though the Broadway show is a stage musical based on a book, or script.The show has played to full houses at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Post critic Johnny Oleksinski praised it as “practically a jumbo jet to Havana” full of “transportive and intoxicating” music.The feud, which began last year, turned into a legal mess when BMG lawyer Jonathan S.

“It Ends With Us” legal battle on Saturday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”“They f–ked up,” Rogan said about Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48.“Ryan’s trying to get out of it now,” Rogan continued. “He’s trying to get out of the lawsuit and they’re like, ‘You are a key part of this.'”His guest Brendan Schaub also declared he’s on Baldoni’s side.

Pop singer Mariah Carey defeated a lawsuit claiming she illegally copied elements of her holiday megahit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” from a country song of the same name.U.S. District Judge Monica Almadani in Los Angeles in a ruling on Wednesday said the writers of Vince Vance and the Valiants’ “All I Want for Christmas Is You” failed to show their song was objectively similar enough to Carey’s to support their copyright infringement case.Attorneys for the songwriters, lawyers for Carey, and spokespeople for her label, Sony Music, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision on Thursday.Vince Vance and the Valiants’ “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was released in 1989 and reached the Billboard country charts during holiday seasons in the 1990s.

unlawfully copying Bruno Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man” for her number-one hit “Flowers.”On Tuesday, US District Judge Dean Pregerson rejected Cyrus’ argument that Tempo Music Investments, which said it owns a share of the copyright in Mars’ song, could not bring the lawsuit.Tempo is unaffiliated with Mars, who is not involved in the lawsuit.Spokespeople and attorneys for Cyrus’ label Sony Music did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision on Wednesday.Tempo attorney Alex Weingarten of Willkie Farr & Gallagher said on Wednesday that the company is “thrilled but not the least surprised” by the decision and “extremely confident in prevailing” in the case.Cyrus released “Flowers” on her 2023 album “Endless Summer Vacation.” “Flowers” has over 1 billion streams on Spotify and won the Song of the Year Grammy award in 2024.Tempo sued Cyrus and Sony Music in September, arguing that “Flowers” duplicates “numerous melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements” of Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.Tempo said in the complaint that it bought its share of “When I Was Your Man” from the song’s co-writer Philip Lawrence in 2020.Cyrus and her song’s co-writers asked the court in November to dismiss the claims against them, arguing that Tempo lacked standing to sue under US copyright law because it did not have “exclusive rights” to the song.Pregerson ruled against Cyrus on Tuesday.“Because Lawrence as a co-owner could sue for infringement, Tempo as co‐owner, in lieu of Lawrence, can sue for infringement without joining the other co‐owners,” Pregerson said.

the Hollywood Reporter that she won’t discuss the legal war between her “It Ends With Us” co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.“I don’t have anything to say about that,” Slate said in response to the outlet asking her to compare making the two projects in the interview published Thursday.“Everything is its own thing. I poured my heart into this work, and every minute of [‘Dying for Sex’] was important to me, and I just want to talk about that,” she said.But Slate did acknowledge that she’s likely going to be asked about the legal drama on her press tour.“Anyone can ask anything,” she said, adding, “but my only responsibility is to speak about the work I’m there to promote.

a modified protective order she requested to keep sensitive communications and documents out of the public eye and deemed as for “Attorneys’ Eyes Only” during the pretrial phase of her sexual harassment and defamation lawsuit against her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director.However, the actress — along with fellow plaintiffs Reynolds and her p.r. representatives (the “Moving” parties) — did not get a victory outright, as the request was “granted in part and denied in part.”The team for Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios — who have countersued Lively and previously opposed her request for the strengthened protective order — welcomed the decision.“The Court has narrowed the provision to stated that information may be marked AEO only if its disclosure is ‘highly likely to cause a significant business, commercial, financial, or privacy injury,’ ” Judge Lewis Liman wrote in his memorandum obtained by The Post.“The parties have levelled [sic] accusations of theft of trade secrets and the disclosure of confidential sensitive information against one another,” he declared.“The Court’s model protective order is not sufficient for the needs of these cases,” he also stated.“These cases involve both business competitors and allegations of sexual harm.

her legal battle with Justin Baldoni after allegedly receiving “violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications.”Attorneys for Baldoni, 41, along with those for Lively, 37, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, 48, had previously agreed to a “model” protective order (PO) ahead of their March 2026 civil trial to prevent the public dissemination of sensitive documents and information as discovery gets underway.However, in a letter submitted to Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York on Thursday viewed by The Post, Lively and Reynolds’ lawyers claim that “good cause exists for the Court to provide additional protections” beyond those agreed to in the model PO.The letter cites Lively’s amended complaint against her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director filed earlier this week, which alleges the “Gossip Girl” alum, along with “her family, other members of the [‘It Ends With Us’] cast, various fact witnesses,” along with people who have publicly voiced their support for the actress “have received violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications.”The additional protections requested by Lively and Reynolds include “an Attorney’s Eyes Only (‘AEO’) category, which applies to ‘Confidential Discovery Material of such a highly confidential and personal, sensitive, or proprietary nature that the revelation of such is likely to cause a competitive, business, commercial, financial, personal or privacy injury,'” according to the letter.

Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and more against Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights Department and later in federal court.Baldoni, in his own lawsuit filed in January, insisted that Lively “falsely” had accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation amid the fallout around the movie’s press tour after the actress took control of the film.

“Hot Mics” podcast on Monday and reacted to Reynolds, 48, making a joke from the audience in Studio 8H about the couple’s legal battle with Baldoni, 48.“I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation,” said Freedman.“I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that,” he added. “So it surprised me.”Freedman also called Reynolds’ comedic bit “the latest move” made by the couple in the legal showdown.The Post has reached out to Freedman for comment.Reynolds and Lively, 37, attended “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” on Sunday, which marked their first red carpet appearance since the legal drama with Baldoni began in December.During one segment, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler took questions from the star-studded audience and called on Reynolds, who was sitting next to his wife in the crowd.“Ryan Reynolds, how’s it going?” Poehler, 53, asked the “Deadpool” star, who stood up from his seat and quipped, “Why? What have you heard?”A source told People after the “SNL” special that Lively was “nervous” to go to the event, but she and Reynolds “had a great time” and mingled with other celebs who were there.On Bush’s podcast, Freedman explained that he speaks to Baldoni “often,” and noted that the actor’s current trip to Hawaii with his family is not a “vacation.”“I don’t think anybody who’s been accused of heinous…you know, arguably what are crimes, is on vacation,” said Freedman.

awaiting a retrial on sex crimes charges in New York.“Harvey Weinstein was deceived by those closest to him, and secured a $45 million dollar loan under the pretense of saving The Weinstein Company,” Imran Ansari, Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, said in a statement. “While Harvey personally guaranteed the loan, others within The Weinstein Company enriched themselves and strategically undermined him, leaving him ‘holding the bag’ of debt while ‘lining their pockets’ when the company was in crisis.”Ansari alleged Bob Weinstein and others at The Weinstein Co.

her account last month.But Hoover’s profile no longer features any pictures of the film adaptation’s stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who are currently suing each other.Hoover also deleted any traces of last year’s “It Ends With Us” promotional tour that used to be on her account.Hoover fled Instagram in January after the start of Lively and Baldoni’s hostile legal battle. The actors played the lead roles in the adaptation of Hoover’s 2016 best-selling novel.

the accused sexual predator is allegedly branded a “monster” with “a lot of similarities” to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.The defamation suit claims that NBC’s parent company and the production company Ample “shamelessly” capitalized on the public’s “insatiable appetite” for Combs content by airing alleged “conspiracy theories” about the fallen rap kingpin in its “Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy” film released on Peacock last month.The doc “falsely, recklessly, and maliciously” accuses Combs, 55, of “murdering” his ex-girlfriend Kimberly Porter, Brooklyn hip-hop legend Christopher Wallace — also known as “Biggie Smalls” or “The Notorious B.I.G.” — and others, the suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges.The flick “assumes that Mr. Combs has committed numerous heinous crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, and attempts to crudely psychologize him,” Combs’ lawyers wrote.“It maliciously and baselessly jumps to the conclusion that Mr.

claims the five school districts are violating President Donald Trump’s recent executive order preventing schools that receive federal funds from affirming trans students’ gender identities.The group says that if all five jurisdictions are found to have violated Title IX and still refuse to end their gender-affirming policies, then those school districts should be stripped of all federal funds. “In each of those school districts, a ‘gender expansive or transgender student’ has access to the sex-segregated common restrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex because it is consistent with their ability to be safe and comfortable in their subjective sense of ‘gender identity,'” the complaint reads.“But when other students whose ‘gender identity’ is the same as their biological sex object on the grounds that they now feel unsafe and uncomfortable in the common sex-segregated restrooms and locker rooms that have traditionally been designated exclusively for their sex, those students’ only option is to use a private restroom or an alternative that ‘minimize[s] the loss of instructional time.’“In other words, the relevant policies provide greater rights to students whose ‘gender identity’ does not match their biological sex than it does to students whose ‘gender identity’ matches their biological sex.

nasty legal battle while hosting the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards on Saturday night.“So much hazarai over such a terrible movie,” Apatow said.He poked fun at Lively, 37, again by commenting on the box office success of “Wicked” and saying that “usually to make that much money you have to sue Blake Lively,” which generated laughter from the audience.Apatow also made fun of Kevin Costner for his “Horizon” film series bombing in theaters. “Imagine being Kevin Costner’s kids and realizing you don’t get a trust fund, but you do get to watch Horizon one and two whenever you like,” he teased.“Emilia Perez” was a target during Apatow’s opening monologue, as well.“Hollywood hasn’t had a new idea in decades and then suddenly we cram all of them into one f—ing movie,” he said about the Oscar nominated film, joking that it’s the “first movie that Trump is trying to deport.”“It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s novel, became engulfed in controversy upon its August 2024 release as rumors swirled over a feud between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41, who also directed the flick.

Nick Cannon‘s been a “Bad” boy.The host and creator of the Viacom-owned MTV’s wildly-successful improv rap battle show “Wild N’ Out” allegedly stole key elements of the program for a copycat on the subscription-based streaming platform Zeus Network — home to Cannon’s new program, “Bad Vs. Wild,” according to a lawsuit.The inordinately virile musician and actor created and hosted “Wild ‘n Out” starting in 2005 and it aired for two decades over 21 seasons.Itself an urban take on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” “Wild ‘n Out” brought celebs and street artists together for face-to-face rap battles that primarily consisted of “Your mama”-esque disses.In 2024, Cannon, 44, jumped to Zeus and launched “Bad vs. Wild.”“Zeus’s copying of these elements in ‘Bad vs.

defamation trial against Amber Heard. Benjamin Chew appeared on “Law & Crime Sidebar with Jesse Weber” Tuesday and weighed in on the “It Ends With Us” lawsuit — including Baldoni’s move to launch a website with an amended version of his $400 million lawsuit against Lively, 37, as well as a timeline of events relevant to the case.

in Justin Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign against her.On Tuesday, Jed Wallace of Street Relations filed a complaint in a Texas federal court obtained by The Post, accusing Lively of defamation for entangling him in her legal battle with her “It Ends With Us” co-star. Wallace’s suit centers on Lively’s previous claims that he allegedly created fake content on social media that seemed to target her while supporting Baldoni.Wallace is seeking a minimum of $7 million in damages, along with a court ruling affirming that he did not sexually harass or retaliate against the actress.The lawsuit arrived the same day Lively withdrew a petition submitted on Jan.