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Blake Lively’s lawyers seek tight hold over release of information in lawsuit against Justin Baldoni

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for actor Blake Lively asked a federal judge Thursday to impose strict rules to prevent anyone associated with Justin Baldoni getting personal or intimate information about her or other celebrities while potential evidence is shared among attorneys as her sexual harassment claims against her costar in “It Ends With Us” proceeds toward trial.

Meryl Governski, representing Lively, told Judge Lewis J. Liman in a telephone conference that some materials must be shared only between lawyers to protect her client and others. The judge did not immediately rule.

Lively sued Baldoni, his production company and others in New York in late December for sexual harassment and attacks on her reputation and sought unspecified damages. Baldoni later countersued, accusing Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion and seeking at least $400 million in damages.

Governski said some defendants in Lively’s lawsuit filed in late December against Baldoni, his production company and others seemed to be operating on an unlimited budget as they “try to ruin the lives of Ms. Lively and her family.”

“There is an insatiable appetite for any information about this case, no matter how benign it is,” Governski said.

“The defendants have bragged in text messages about being able to publish information without fingerprints.”

She said one category of information that needs to be kept between lawyers related to medical information, including mental health, and that “personal and intimate conversations with unrelated third parties” must be kept out of the public eye because — while the public relations value would be high — the evidentiary value would be “virtually nonexistent.”

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