{"id":61179,"date":"2025-09-13T07:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/61179\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T07:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:21:07","slug":"taylor-swift-deposition-off-limits-to-justin-baldoni-judge-rules-lack-of-appropriate-diligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/61179\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift Deposition Off Limits to Justin Baldoni, Judge Rules: Lack of \u2018Appropriate Diligence\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge has denied Justin Baldoni\u2019s last-minute bid to depose Taylor Swift as he prepares for an upcoming trial over Blake Lively\u2019s claims she was sexually harassed and retaliated against<\/a> during the filming of It Ends With Us.<\/p>\n

In an order handed down Friday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ruled that Baldoni and his co-defendants at Wayfarer Studios simply waited too long to seek the sit-down and missed their chance. The judge did, however, grant a 10-day extension for Lively to take the depositions of Baldoni and two others. He said the defendants dragged their feet in producing the requested documents, so Lively and her lawyers deserved the extra time to prepare. In the case of Swift, the judge said Baldoni and Wayfarer failed to show \u201cgood cause\u201d to justify a similar reprieve.<\/p>\n

More from Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only justification [Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties] have provided for the extension is their assertion that Swift\u2019s preexisting professional obligations now prevent her from appearing for a deposition prior to October 20, 2025,\u201d Judge Liman wrote. \u201cImportantly, however, the Wayfarer parties have provided no discussion of when they began attempting to schedule the deposition. Discovery has been ongoing in this case for approximately six months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge noted that Baldoni previously requested Swift\u2019s deposition in May 2025 before ultimately withdrawing that subpoena. \u201cThey have offered no evidence that they have served a renewed subpoena on Swift. Thus, at most, the Wayfarer parties have demonstrated that scheduling the deposition now presents logistical difficulties; that does not answer the question of why the deposition could not have been conducted earlier,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHaving failed to demonstrate appropriate diligence, the requested extension is denied.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge\u2019s order followed after Baldoni\u2019s lawyer, Ellyn S. Garofalo, claimed in a letter to the court filed Thursday that Swift had \u201cagreed\u201d to appear for deposition but was unable to do so before Oct. 20. The letter requested an extension of the Sept. 30 discovery deadline to accommodate Swift\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Swift\u2019s lawyer stepped into the fray to set the record straight, refuting the claim that his client had agreed to answer questions under oath.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs counsel for the parties know, since the inception of this matter, we have consistently maintained that my client has no material role in this action,\u201d Swift\u2019s lawyer J. Douglas Baldridge wrote in a letter to the judge filed in Manhattan federal court. He was clear that Swift \u201cdid not agree to a deposition,\u201d but if she was \u201cforced,\u201d she had informed Baldoni\u2019s camp that her schedule was too busy to accommodate it before October 20. Baldridge didn\u2019t explain what the conflict was, but Swift has been a little busy lately, getting engaged<\/a> to Travis Kelce and preparing for the release of her new album,\u00a0<\/a>The Life of a Showgirl<\/a>, set to debut Oct. 3.<\/p>\n

Lively, 38, is suing Baldoni, 41, and Wayfarer Studios with claims Baldoni subjected her to \u201cdisturbing\u201d sexual harassment during production of It Ends With Us and then engaged in a retaliatory campaign to \u201ceviscerate\u201d her credibility. Lively alleges the harassment included an incident during the filming of a slow dance where no sound was recorded. She says Baldoni improvised a scene where he \u201cleaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, \u2018It smells so good.\u2019\u201d Lively alleges Baldoni also tried to add a graphic sex scene where their characters would climax together on their wedding night. She says Baldoni then \u201cintrusively\u201d asked her if she and her husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds, climaxed simultaneously during intercourse.<\/p>\n

Swift was initially ensnared in the fight when Baldoni filed a dueling defamation lawsuit<\/a> against Lively that included claims Swift was present during a pivotal meeting at Lively\u2019s Tribeca penthouse that involved Lively\u2019s efforts to make changes to the movie script.<\/p>\n

In a separate response letter filed Friday, before the judge\u2019s ruling, one of Lively\u2019s lawyers blasted Baldoni\u2019s camp for an \u201castounding\u201d lack of respect for \u201cSwift\u2019s privacy and schedule.\u201d The lawyer urged the court to deny Baldoni\u2019s request for the late deposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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 \u2013 though, notably, without evidence \u2013 that Ms. Swift has supposedly \u2018agreed\u2019 to sit for a deposition sometime between October 20-25, some three weeks after the close of fact discovery in this matter,\u201d Lively\u2019s lawyer Michael J. Gottlieb wrote in his opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Swift is someone whose calendar should be presumed to be packed with professional obligations for months in advance,\u201d he continued. \u201cAt any point over the past six months, the Wayfarer defendants could have noticed a deposition, served a subpoena, and negotiated an agreeable time and place for this deposition. But they did not. Instead, the Wayfarer Defendants previously noticed Ms. Swift\u2019s deposition in May 2025, accompanied by a barrage of press stories covering the same, only to withdraw that subpoena to much fanfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gottlieb claimed Baldoni and Wayfarer did \u201cnot even attempt to explain their need for [Swift\u2019s] deposition.\u201d He further accused them of trying \u201cto generate a media spectacle in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swift had a very public friendship with Lively prior to the legal war, but they have not been seen together in months. In his court filings, Baldoni claimed that Swift \u2014 originally identified only as \u201cmegacelebrity\u201d \u2014 supported Lively\u2019s edits to the movie script, as did Reynolds. Baldoni said after the penthouse meeting, Lively sent him a text message referring to Swift and Reynolds as her \u201cdragons.\u201d Baldoni said he interpreted the message as a suggestion Lively could tap Swift to \u201cmake things very difficult for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ever get around to watching\u00a0Game of Thrones, you\u2019ll appreciate that I\u2019m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons,\u201d the purported text from Lively read. \u201cFor better or worse, but usually better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in May, a rep for Swift slammed Baldoni\u2019s initial attempts to subpoena the singer. \u201cTaylor 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,\u201d the rep previously told\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/a>. The rep said the subpoena was \u201cdesigned to use Taylor Swift\u2019s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s battle with Baldoni first made headlines last year when\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0published a Dec. 21 story titled\u00a0\u201c\u2018We Can Bury Anyone\u2019: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0The story revealed\u00a0Lively had filed a precursor complaint<\/a>\u00a0against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department.<\/p>\n

Best of Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge has denied Justin Baldoni\u2019s last-minute bid to depose Taylor Swift as he prepares for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[8150,434,43585,18,117,19,17,8149,973,43584,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-61179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-blake-lively","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-depositions","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-justin-baldoni","16":"tag-taylor-swift","17":"tag-the-wayfarer","18":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}