Blake Lively’s protracted legal struggle with It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni has resulted in yet another lawsuit, this time from a publicist she identified in her complaint to the California Civil Rights Department.
Jed Wallace of Street Relations, Inc., a crisis management company based in Texas, filed a lawsuit against Lively, 37, on Tuesday, February 4, claiming defamation.
According to Wallace’s lawsuit, this occurred after Lively submitted a petition on January 21 asking for a deposition from Wallace, which was then withdrawn on Tuesday.
Earlier in December, the Gossip Girl alum in her civil rights complaint alleged that Wallace was hired by Baldoni’s PR team to assist in the alleged smear campaign, claiming he “weaponized a digital army around the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums.”
Wallace’s lawyers claim in his new lawsuit that her recent petition “conceded that Lively has no facts supporting the allegations she made against Wallace and Street in the Precursor which ‘made headlines around the world’ as she now, apparently under the threat of sanctions from one of Plaintiffs’ attorneys, sought to ‘investigate the scope of Mr Wallace’s conduct.’ “
In response to the lawsuit, Lively’s legal team said in a statement, “Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation.”
“This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department,” her lawyers added.
“While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Wallace and the company are seeking a minimum of $7 million in damages plus “a court order stating that he didn’t engage in harassment or retaliation against the actress.”
“The statements of fact, actual or implied, of and concerning Plaintiffs in the Precursor and CRD Complaint are false, defamatory, made with either negligence or ‘actual malice’ and have caused millions of dollars in reputational harm including both general and special damages through emotional harm (Wallace), actual damages and real and projected loss of business (Wallace and Street) in an amount that exceeds $1,000,000,” Wallace’s Tuesday filing reads.
Lively and Baldoni have been embroiled in a legal battle since December 2024, when the actress filed a sexual harassment complaint against him, claiming that he had committed misconduct during the film’s production and launched a retaliatory smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
The Jane the Virgin star has denied the allegations.
