Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Calls Blake Vigorous’s Request to Dismiss Lawsuit ‘Abhorrent’

Justin Baldoni’s lawyer rapidly responded to Blake Vigorous’s try and dismiss her It Ends With Us director and costar’s lawsuit towards her, calling the transfer “abhorrent.”

Of their movement to dismiss on Thursday, March 20, Vigorous’s attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, known as Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit towards Vigorous, 37, “vengeful and rambling.” They described Baldoni’s lawsuit as a “profound abuse of the authorized course of that has no place in federal courtroom.”

“Ms. Vigorous’s current movement to dismiss herself from the self-concocted catastrophe she initiated is among the most abhorrent examples of abusing our authorized system,” Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, responded in an announcement to PEOPLE later Thursday. “Stringent guidelines are put into place to guard the harmless and permit people to rightfully defend themselves. Legal guidelines aren’t meant to be twisted and curated by privileged elites to suit their very own private agenda.”

Freedman additionally referenced his response to a movement Vigorous’s husband Ryan Reynolds filed on March 18. In that submitting, Reynolds, 48, sought to dismiss Baldoni’s defamation declare towards him.

“As we mentioned yesterday in response to Mr. Reynolds’ similar cowardly measures, we are going to proceed to carry Ms. Vigorous accountable for her actions of pure malice which embrace falsely accusing my shoppers of harassment and retaliation,” Freedman continued Thursday. “Her fantastical claims shall be swiftly debunked as discovery strikes ahead, simply disproved with precise, evidentiary proof.”

The authorized battle between the 2 stars started in December 2024 when Vigorous sued Baldoni, It Ends With Us producer Jamey Heath, Wayfarer Studios co-founder Steve Sarowitz, and others, accusing them of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear marketing campaign to wreck her fame. 

In January, Baldoni responded by submitting a $400 million lawsuit towards Reynolds, his spouse Vigorous, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR agency Imaginative and prescient PR, Inc. over the heated scenario behind the scenes of It Ends With Us. On Thursday, Gottlieb and Hudson blasted the lawsuit as legally groundless and an effort to silence the actress.

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“This lawsuit is a profound abuse of the authorized course of that has no place in federal courtroom,” Vigorous’s legal professionals mentioned in an announcement. “California legislation now expressly prohibits suing victims who communicate out towards sexual harassment or retaliation, whether or not in a lawsuit or within the press. This meritless and retaliatory lawsuit faces three insurmountable authorized obstacles, together with the litigation, truthful report, and sexual harassment privileges. The latter accommodates a compulsory fee-shifting provision that can require billionaire Steve Sarowitz and Wayfarer Studios to pay damages. In an epic self-own, the Wayfarer Events’ try and sue Ms. Vigorous ‘into oblivion’ has solely created extra legal responsibility for them—deservedly so, given their actions.”

Vigorous’s workforce claims Baldoni and his co-defendants are topic to California Civil Code Part 47.1, a newly enacted legislation that prohibits retaliatory lawsuits tied to public disclosures of sexual harassment. Additionally they known as Baldoni’s declare that Vigorous “conspired” with The New York Instances an intimidation tactic, arguing that she was legally entitled to reveal the contents of a grievance.

Their trial is scheduled for a 12 months any longer March 9, 2026.

PEOPLE has reached out to Vigorous and her authorized workforce for additional remark.