According to newly filed notices, lawyers for Lively’s harassment-and-retaliation case want sworn testimony and documents from Braun, whose TAG PR stake and long-standing ties to Baldoni place him near alleged efforts to smear the actress online and in tabloid coverage.
The same batch of subpoenas orders both principals to appear for depositions later this month, expanding discovery that already produced thousands of text messages now central to Lively’s claim that Baldoni orchestrated “a coordinated reputational hit” after she complained of on-set misconduct.
The dispute began in December 2024, when Lively filed a civil-rights complaint alleging Baldoni improvised unwanted intimacy and repeatedly entered her trailer uninvited during production of the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel.
Baldoni—recently dropped by WME—responded with a sweeping suit accusing Lively, husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane of extortion; that case was dismissed on 9 June after Judge Lewis Liman ruled Lively’s harassment statements were protected activity.
Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman says the new subpoenas will “show the truth” and preview “additional evidence and refined allegations” for the amended complaint, while Lively’s counsel calls the countersuit’s collapse “a complete victory” and welcomes the chance to question Baldoni under oath. Braun declined comment; a prior Page Six report confirmed his publicist provided documents only after being compelled by court order, underscoring the widening paper trail.
Legal analysts note that Baldoni must now prove contract-interference and fraud claims without the defamation narrative a judge found deficient, a task one expert described as “difficult but not impossible” given the public nature of the feud and looming March 2026 trial date. Meanwhile, Lively’s side signals readiness: the subpoena list has already shed high-profile names like Taylor Swift after Baldoni withdrew a bid to question her, indicating a narrower but increasingly aggressive discovery phase