Blake Lively hit with $7 million lawsuit from publicist she claimed set 'digital army' against her
Blake Lively is the subject of a new $7 million defamation lawsuit being brought against her by crisis publicist Jed Wallace, who the actor had previously claimed 'weaponized a digital army' against her as part of a smear campaign.
Wallace is employed by the Texas-based crisis-management firm Street Relations, Inc.
In that filing, her lawyers claimed that Wallace was hired by Baldoni's PR team to assist in an alleged smear campaign against Lively. It was claimed 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."
The following day, the New York Times published an investigation repeating those claims of a smear campaign. In January, Baldoni launched a legal action against the Times disputing those reports. He is also counter-suing Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging that the couple have sought to destroy his reputation.
In the new lawsuit filed by Wallace, his lawyers claim that Lively's legal team has "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.''
As part of her own legal action, Lively had requested a deposition from Wallace, a request which was later rescinded on Tuesday (February 4).
In a statement to The Independent regarding the lawsuit, Lively's legal team said: '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. 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.'
Judge Lewis Liman said both sides have 'given the public plenty to feast upon.'
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