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Blake Lively’s lawyer, Mike Gottlieb, has criticized Justin Baldoni’s legal team for their reported plan to subpoena Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her close friend Taylor Swift in an upcoming trial set for March 9, 2026. Gottlieb questioned the relevance of involving celebrities in a case focused on serious workplace allegations, telling PEOPLE, “It’s completely unclear what claims or defenses… have any relevance to at all.”
Reports from April suggested that anyone close to Lively or Baldoni, including Reynolds and Swift, might be subpoenaed during pretrial discovery. Baldoni’s lawyers accuse Reynolds of mocking Baldoni through a character named Nicepool in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine, calling it a “thinly veiled dig.” Reynolds and Marvel have denied this. Court documents also imply that Swift and Reynolds may have influenced a rooftop scene in It Ends With Us, based on texts with Lively.
Gottlieb dismissed these points, emphasizing, “This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of sexual harassment on the set. It’s not a case about how songs were chosen for the movie. It’s not a case about fictional Marvel characters in Deadpool movies.” He warned against subpoenaing people simply because they are famous, saying, “The federal courts don’t tolerate that kind of behavior.” He also expressed concern that calling high-profile witnesses could turn the trial into a media circus.
In response, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told PEOPLE, “Although obviously uncomfortable for the Lively parties, the truth is not a distraction… Blake was the one who brought her high-profile friends into this situation.” Freedman also questioned whether Disney was complicit in Ryan Reynolds using shareholder money to pursue a personal grudge, claiming Reynolds’ involvement is well documented.
While Lively’s team wants to limit celebrity involvement, Gottlieb confirmed that Blake Lively is expected to testify and that others who witnessed incidents on set will also provide testimony.
The legal battle began when Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni in December 2024. Baldoni then filed a $400 million defamation suit in January 2025, accusing Lively of trying to portray him as a “real-life villain” to distract from her endorsement deals. Lively’s team said Sony later asked her to oversee the final cut of It Ends With Us, which did well, and accused Baldoni of blaming the victim in his response, calling it a desperate and doomed strategy.