.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Taylor Swift will not be deposed in Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively | |
case, judge rules | |
By Elizabeth Wagmeister, Dan Heching, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:32 PM EDT, Fri September 12, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
The judge overseeing has denied a request from Baldoni’s legal team | |
for an extension to depose Taylor Swift, according to a ruling, | |
obtained by CNN. | |
Baldoni’s legal team had requested an extension to the end of | |
October, in order to be able to depose Swift. | |
“The only justification they have provided for the extension is their | |
assertion that Swift’s preexisting professional obligations now | |
prevent her from appearing for a deposition prior to October 20, | |
2025,” Judge Lewis Liman wrote in his ruling on Friday evening, | |
regarding the Baldoni parties. | |
In his ruling, Judge Liman indicated that Baldoni’s legal team waited | |
until the eleventh hour to request an extension to depose Swift. | |
“Discovery has been ongoing in this case for approximately six | |
months,” the judge wrote. “They have offered no evidence that they | |
have served a renewed subpoena on Swift… Having failed to demonstrate | |
appropriate diligence, the requested extension is denied.” | |
CNN has reached out to Baldoni and Lively’s representatives for | |
comment on the judge’s ruling. | |
On Thursday, Baldoni’s attorneys said in a court filing that Swift | |
had agreed to be deposed in the ongoing civil litigation between “It | |
Ends With Us” co-stars Lively and Baldoni. But Swift’s attorneys | |
disputed that she ever agreed to sit for a deposition. | |
In a letter to the court from Baldoni’s legal team, they wrote that | |
Swift has agreed to be deposed in the case but was unable to do so | |
prior to October 20, due to prior professional commitments. (Swift’s | |
12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” is set to be released | |
on October 3.) | |
But in a letter to the court in response, dated earlier on Friday and | |
obtained by CNN, an attorney for Swift said she had not agreed to be | |
deposed and would only do so if required by the court. | |
“Since the inception of this matter we have consistently maintained | |
that my client has no material role in this action,” an attorney for | |
Swift wrote. | |
“Further, my client did not agree to a deposition, but if she is | |
forced into a deposition, we advised (after first hearing about the | |
deposition just three days ago) that her schedule would accommodate the | |
time required during the week of October 20 if the parties were able to | |
work out their disputes,” Swift’s filing states. “We take no role | |
in those disputes.” | |
CNN has reached out to a representative for Swift for further comment. | |
In a separate court document, also dated Friday and obtained by CNN, | |
Lively’s attorneys suggested Baldoni’s legal team was seeking media | |
attention for the case by referencing Swift. | |
“The Wayfarer Defendants have repeatedly sought to bring Ms. Swift | |
into this litigation to fuel their relentless media strategy. In this | |
latest effort, the Wayfarer Defendants assert—though, notably, | |
without evidence—that Ms. Swift has supposedly ‘agreed’ to sit | |
for a deposition sometime between October 20-25,” the filing from | |
Lively’s legal team states. “The Wayfarer Defendants do not appear | |
to have contacted Ms. Swift’s counsel regarding a date or location | |
about the deposition until earlier this week. In this respect, the | |
Wayfarer Defendants’ lack of diligence, and disrespect for Ms. | |
Swift’s privacy and schedule, is astounding.” | |
While Baldoni’s suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds was | |
dismissed, Lively is still pursuing her claims of sexual harassment and | |
retaliation against Baldoni. | |
Swift – a longtime friend of Lively’s – was first mentioned in | |
connection to the dispute when text exchanges were revealed to include | |
the name “Taylor” as part of . | |
One of the text messages appeared to show an exchange between Baldoni | |
and Lively about the script for a scene in “It Ends With Us”: “I | |
really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much | |
more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan | |
and Taylor),” Baldoni wrote with a wink emoji. “You really are a | |
talent across the board. Really excited and grateful to do this | |
together.” | |
Swift received a subpoena in the case in May that was subsequently | |
withdrawn. | |
“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not | |
involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the | |
film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not | |
even see ‘It Ends With Us’ until weeks after its public release, | |
and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024,” a | |
spokesperson for Swift said at the time. | |
“The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one | |
song, ‘My Tears Ricochet.’ Given that her involvement was licensing | |
a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document | |
subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public | |
interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts | |
of the case,” the spokesperson added. | |
Trial in the case is set for next spring in federal court in New York. | |
<- back to index |