Overview

• Blake Lively's company, Vanzan, filed a secret Doe lawsuit in September 2024 to subpoena communications from Justin Baldoni's former PR team without attaching her name.
• The subpoena uncovered text messages allegedly showing Baldoni's PR team planning a smear campaign against Lively, including a message stating, 'We can bury anyone.'
• Lively's legal team defends the lawsuit as a lawful investigative tool to identify perpetrators of online attacks, while Baldoni's attorney calls it a 'sham' designed to bypass oversight.
• The Doe lawsuit was withdrawn in December 2024, one day before Lively filed a public sexual harassment and retaliation complaint against Baldoni in California.
• Both sides are now locked in pre-trial motions, with the case set to go to trial in March 2026, as public scrutiny grows over the ethics of their legal strategies.