Hours after Jed Wallace launched a $7 million defamation lawsuit towards Blake Full of life at present, the lawyer for the self-described “human disaster” navigator has admitted the motion is in no small half a response to his doubtless addition to the It Ends With Us actress’ ongoing bitter battles with Justin Baldoni, his firm, his backers and his publicists.
Which isn’t the primary time a tit for tat technique has been employed on this more and more messy affair over the previous nearly two months.
The transfer Tuesday by Full of life and Ryan Reynolds’ attorneys within the Hays County courts to drop their demand for Texas-based and Avenue Relations founder Wallace to present a deposition below oath about what he did and didn’t do in an alleged on-line smear marketing campaign final yr towards the Gossip Lady vet was first reported by Deadline. It was pretty clear, from statements made by Full of life lawyer Michael Gottlieb made in a New York February 3 listening to on his shopper’s NYE go well with towards Baldoni and Baldoni’s January 16 and since amended $400 million go well with towards his IEWU co-star, her Deadpool hubby and their publicist that Wallace was a really possible candidate to be formally included within the consolidated case.
Lawyer Bryan Freedman and publicist Melissa Nathan repped Wallace’s different lawyer Chip Babcock, who laid all of it out on the desk at present, for higher and worse.
“Blake Full of life made false statements to the press by means of a non-public administrative submitting, claiming Mr. Wallace and Avenue Relations had sexually harassed her, retaliated towards her, aided and abetted others who did the identical, breached a contract along with her and engaged in different improper conduct,” the Texas-based Jackson Walker, LLP companion stated for his shopper in a press release Wednesday. “Mr. Wallace, who’s a really personal particular person, has by no means met or spoken to Ms. Full of life. Ever. He has not engaged in a smear marketing campaign towards her at any cut-off date. The choice to file this lawsuit to rightfully defend himself and his household was made after Ms. Full of life not solely filed towards him first in Texas however, indicated she meant to call him in one more lawsuit.”
Named in Full of life’s December 20 sexual harassment and retaliation criticism to California’s Civil Rights Division that put this high-profile and multi-pronged matter within the public sphere, Wallace was not part of Full of life’s preliminary December 31 lawsuit towards Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, disaster PR boss Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel. Although that prelude to a lawsuit does title Wallace, his presence is clearly solely in relation to the retaliation Full of life says she skilled. Under no circumstances is Wallace linked to the harassment Full of life says she was subjected to through the IEWU manufacturing, nor to any breach of contract – so he doth protest a bit a lot right here.
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What Full of life’s legal professionals have stated of their now dismissed want of final month to get Wallace to sit down for a deposition, is that the Avenue Relations exec “weaponized a digital military across the nation from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed, and promote content material that gave the impression to be genuine on social media platforms and web chat boards.”
With all that, the entire battle is about to start out trial on March 9, 2026.
No amended criticism from Full of life/Reynolds has been put within the court docket docket but, however I hear it is just a query of when when it comes to days, not if.
Wallace is clearly near Nathan and Freedman on some degree, even when he wasn’t truly employed by the previous in orchestrating the alleged astroturfing assault that Full of life has claimed he was energetic in and that she was subjected to within the lead-up to field workplace hit IEWU’s August 2024 premiere. It does appear the self-described “employed gun” on-line subcontractor appears to be the “Jed” talked about or implied in a number of textual content messages about on-line assaults on Full of life between Nathan, Abel and their crew final yr — however perhaps he’s not.
Regardless, in his criticism filed at present, Wallace says Full of life’s highlight has price him severe money as a result of his title retains arising in quite a few posts, broadcasts and publications (like Elle) in connection — falsely he says – with Full of life and Baldoni’s mutual scorched Earth warfare within the courts and the court docket of public opinion. The media storm has brought about “tens of millions of {dollars} in reputational hurt with a projected loss to his firm that exceeds one other million,” Wallace’s submitting says.
For Full of life’s facet, as one would anticipate in a tit for tat situation, that is all extra of the identical in a state of affairs that has seen Baldoni and his entourage insist they’re those who’ve suffered a smear marketing campaign and profession crash and burn by the hands of the highly effective Ladypool couple.
(L-R) Blake Full of life & Justin Baldoni in a scene from It Ends With Us
Sony Footage Releasing / courtesy Everett Assortment
“One other day, one other state, one other nine-figure lawsuit looking for to sue Ms. Full of life ‘into oblivion’ for talking out towards sexual harassment and retaliation,”attorneys at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Willkie Farr & Gallagher companies stated in a press release of their very own. “This isn’t only a publicity stunt—it’s clear retaliation in response to allegations contained inside a sexual harassment and retaliation criticism that Ms. Full of life filed with the California Civil Rights Division. Whereas this lawsuit will probably be dismissed, we’re happy that Mr. Wallace has lastly emerged from the shadows, and that he too will probably be held accountable in federal court docket.”
There’s nearly nothing the events on this agree on. For instance: paperwork filed on Tuesday by either side estimated subsequent yr’s trial might take wherever from two weeks, in accordance with Liveley’s workforce, to a month and a half, in accordance with Baldoni’s facet.