Justin Baldoni and his attorney Bryan Freedman were previously on opposite ends of the courtroom.
Prior to hiring the Los Angeles–based entertainment lawyer to represent him against his ongoing legal battle against Blake Lively, the actor, 40, faced off against Freedman in a case involving copyright infringement and breach of contract over his directorial debut, Five Feet Apart, which starred Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson.
According to court documents, viewed by Us Weekly, ‘Freedman previously represented a person with cystic fibrosis who sued Baldoni’ in September 2021.
Freedman’s client, Travis Flores, claimed that Baldoni and other defendants ‘ripped off’ his script, тιтled Three Feet Distance.
‘Flores kept his screenplay from Baldoni both because Flores had a policy of keeping his work confidential and because Baldoni was working on the feature film project that Flores viewed as compeтιтive,’ the legal papers read. ‘Unbeknownst to Flores, however, Baldoni already had a different source to provide him with information about Three Feet Distance. As it turned out, Baldoni’s film — which became тιтled Five Feet Apart — would copy numerous elements of Three Feet Distance.’
Ultimately, as reported by Bloomberg Law, the copyright infringement lawsuit over the film was dismissed by a federal court in Los Angeles in March 2022.
Justin Baldoni and his attorney Bryan Freedman were previously on opposite ends of the courtroom; seen in 2019
DailyMail.com has reached out to Baldoni’s representative for comment.
Baldoni dedicated his film, Five Feet Apart, to YouTuber Claire Wineland, who was a paid consultant on the film and chronicled her life with cystic fibrosis in a series of raw YouTube videos.
Read More Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds make shock request after Justin Baldoni’s lawyer released video 
The movie was a box office hit, earning an impressive $92 million on a $7 million budget.
At the time of its release, Baldoni revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Wineland ‘unfortunately pᴀssed away just before’ he ‘could show her’ his ‘director’s cut.’
‘It’s something I’m still dealing with,’ he admitted.
Last year, in honor of Cystic fibrosis (CF) Awareness Month, he reflected on releasing Five Feet Apart to the world in a heartfelt Instagram post.
‘It was a labor of love that I had the honor of making with my dear friend Claire,’ he captioned a slideshow, featuring pH๏τos with Wineland and from the film.
He continued: ‘Claire literally changed the course of my life. Her zest for life was infectious, and she was determined to live in a way that made herself proud. She was not amazing despite her illness. She was amazing, as she says, because of it. She taught me to make life a beautiful piece of art, and I miss her dearly.’
Baldoni hired the Los Angeles–based entertainment lawyer (seen on November 25, 2024) to represent him against his ongoing legal battle against Blake Lively
The actor, 40, faced off against Freedman in a case involving copyright infringement and breach of contract over his directorial debut, Five Feet Apart, which starred Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson (Baldoni pictured with Sprouse and Richardson in 2019)
The movie was a box office hit, earning an impressive $92 million on a $7 million budget
‘Unfortunately, Claire never got to physically see the film, as just before I could show her, she got the call for a double lung transplant. Due to complications, she never woke up. Before she pᴀssed, I held her hand and promised her that I would continue to support her work in any way I could,’ he concluded.
He went on to encourage fans to support Claire’s Place Foundation, a non-profit providing financial and community support to children and families affected by cystic fibrosis, ‘run by [Claire’s] incredible mother.’
When sharing the first official trailer for Five Feet Apart in 2018, Baldoni expressed how proud he was to be making his directorial debut and to have worked with the CF community.
‘When I was eight, my dad gave me his broken camera that I would pretend to make movies with. Growing up I would film absolutely everything…there was something about documenting life that I felt so drawn to,’ he explained.
Baldoni dedicated the film, Five Feet Apart, to YouTuber Claire Wineland (pictured between the actor and his wife Emily), who was a paid consultant on the film and chronicled her life with cystic fibrosis in a series of honest YouTube videos.
At the time of its release, Baldoni revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Wineland ‘unfortunately pᴀssed away just before’ he ‘could show her’ his ‘director’s cut’
Baldoni continued: ‘In high school I made music videos for girls I liked, and turned in short films instead of book reports. As a struggling actor I supported myself by directing music videos on the side to make rent, then later commercials, and in my mid-twenties I decided to leave acting completely to make documentaries that I hoped could help heal our world.’
The star went on to note that he never knew if he would ever actually ‘direct a studio feature film’ since ‘sometimes dreams can feel so far away.’
‘This has always been one of my big ones,’ he gushed. ‘(And I’m sure my mom would tell you she always “knew” it would happen.’
Earlier this month, Baldoni launched a $400M lawsuit against Lively, 37, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, as well as Lively’s publicist Leslie Soane, for alleged defamation, as well as civil extortion, and false light invasion of privacy, among other claims.
It follows an earlier lawsuit seeking $250 million that he filed against the New York Times over its reporting on Lively’s complaint accusing him of Sєxual harᴀssment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Earlier this month, Baldoni launched a $400M lawsuit against Lively, 37, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, as well as Lively’s publicist Leslie Soane, for alleged defamation, as well as civil extortion, and false light invasion of privacy, among other claims; seen in December 2024
It follows an earlier lawsuit seeking $250 million that he filed against the New York Times over its reporting on Lively’s complaint accusing him of Sєxual harᴀssment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her (pictured last year)
The drama between the former co-stars has continued to unfold since then.
It all began in August when rumours of rancour behind the scenes of It Ends With Us emerged as the film was being released.
Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni accusing him of Sєxual harᴀssment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her last month before officially suing him and various others, alleging harᴀssment and a coordinated campaign targeting her reputation in retaliation for her speaking out about her treatment on set.
Lively’s initial complaint led to a wave of backlash against Justin, and he ultimately filed a lawsuit against the NY Times over their reporting of the matter before filing a lawsuit against Blake, her husband, and publicist Sloane.
In the latest development, Baldoni’s lawyer released a bombshell video showing the pair on the Ends With Us set to Lively’s claims she was Sєxually harᴀssed by him while filming that particular scene.
The explosive video exclusively released by DailyMail.com, showed all three takes of a dance scene between Lively, 37, and Baldoni – revealing the pair were on apparent great terms before the actress accused him of Sєxual harᴀssment.
Lively in turn hit back at the clip’s release, saying it proved that she was uncomfortable during the scene.
Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni accusing him of Sєxual harᴀssment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her last month (Baldoni and Lively seen on the It Ends with Us set last year)
The actress claims the explosive video exclusively released by DailyMail.com, which shows all three takes of a dance scene between her and Baldoni proves that she was uncomfortable during the scene.
‘Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,’ her legal team shared in a statement with DailyMail.com.
Her team claims the video ‘shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.’
‘Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.’
Lively’s lawyer also added that none of the intimacy shown in the video from the film — which Baldoni directed and starred in alongside Lively — was choreographed.
Lively’s initial complaint led to a wave of backlash against Justin, and he ultimately filed a lawsuit against the NY Times over their reporting of the matter before filing a lawsuit against Blake, her husband, and publicist Sloane (seen in August 2024)
‘Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.’
‘Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss.’
Lively’s legal team claims that her ‘leaning away’ from Baldoni during the scene was not acting, and that the clips shows her ‘repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk.’
‘Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.’
‘They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.’
Her team claims that releasing the video to the media ‘is another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public’ and ‘a continuation of their harᴀssment and retaliatory campaign.’
‘We are continuing our efforts to require Mr. Baldoni and his ᴀssociates to answer in court, under oath, rather than through manufactured media stunts,’ her lawyer stated.
