Huge Twist in Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni Legal Battle on Eve of Trial

A Hollywood legal war that lasted nearly. 2 years. A movie about domestic. violence, accusations of sexual. harassment, a secret smear campaign, text messages that appear to drag Taylor. Swift into all this mess. And then just. 2 weeks before trial. it ends. Welcome to Sidebar presented by. Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, real quick I got to tell you. about the sponsor, this app that I think.

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sure to use promo code sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents bonus on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, we know. they co-starred in the 2024 film It Ends. With Us. He was also the director, she. was also the star. And according to. court filings, Lively accused Baldoni of. sexually harassing her on that set. She. claimed he made degrading comments, improvised unwanted physical contact, created an environment she described in.

a text message to a friend, quote, "They're just being creeps. Like keep. your hormones to yourself." She also. accused his production company, Wayfarer. Studios, of launching a coordinated. smear campaign against her using crisis. PR professionals and social media. manipulation to destroy her reputation. In December 2024, according to the New. York Times, Lively filed a complaint. with the California Civil Rights. Department and then this all matured. into an official federal lawsuit. Now, Baldoni not only denied everything, but. but the court filing show he had said.

Lively was the one who stole the film. from him, threatened not to promote it, and then tried to bury him with false. allegations that she weaponized fake. allegations against him. So, he fought. back. Baldoni filed his own lawsuit. He. claimed defamation against Lively. By. the way, went after her husband Ryan. Reynolds, their publicist. He also sued. the New York Times over an article that. was titled "We Can Bury Anyone Inside a. Hollywood Smear Machine." But according. to filings that we reviewed, a judge.

dismissed Baldoni's lawsuits, ruling. that Lively and The Times were. essentially protected. They were. protected by legal privileges. So, The. Times turned around, sued Baldoni's. company Wayfarer Studios seeking damages. for attorney's costs, citing state. anti-slap laws. That case actually. appears to be ongoing. But basically. what we're talking about, this feud, this fight between Baldoni and Lively, it kept going for 18 months. According. to Page Six, the two sides spent a. combined $60 million on dollars on legal.

fees. And then in April of 2026, according to The New York Times, this. was big, a federal judge threw out. Lively's sexual harassment claims, ruling that she was an independent. contractor, not an employee, so. essentially those laws maybe didn't. apply to her. The judge did let her. retaliation and breach of contract. claims move forward to trial, but it was. mostly against the production company. and not really Baldoni. That trial was. now scheduled for May 18th. We planned. to cover it here on Sidebar. But then.

what happens? May 4th, 14 days, 2 weeks. before opening statements, before jury. selection, they settled. They settled. Now, we. received this joint statement of the. parties in the Lively v. Wayfarer. Studios matters. And it was sent on. behalf of the attorneys. So, Bryan. Freedman, Ellen Garofalo, Michael. Gottlieb, Ezra Hudson. And this is what. it says. The parties in the Blake Lively. and Wayfarer Studios litigation have. reached an agreement to resolve the. matters and issue the following joint. statement. The end product, the movie It.

Ends With Us, is a source of pride to. all of us who worked to bring it to. life. Raising awareness and making a. meaningful impact on the lives of. domestic violence survivors, cuz that's. what the movie was about, and all. survivors is a goal that we stand. behind. We acknowledge the process. presented challenges and recognize. concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserve to. be heard. We remain firmly committed to. workplaces free of improprieties and. unproductive environments. It is our. sincere hope that this brings closure. and allows all involved to move forward.

constructively and in peace, including a. respectful environment online. I want to. talk about what that statement means. Now, to be clear, we don't know the terms of this. settlement. It's not disclosed. Usually, that's not disclosed. There's no. blatant admission of wrongdoing, but. according to Page Six, industry. executives are kind of split on whether. either star can recover. One female. studio executive told them, quote, "Justin doesn't have enough value in the. market to overcome the suspicion that he.

may have created an unsafe set. I'm not. sure he could cast a movie right now. Blake will have to take a break and take. a cut on her first paycheck, but she's. still a movie star." So, what actually. happened on that set? Who is telling the. truth? Why did they settle now? Why did. this case, which almost seemed like it. could develop into something like Depp. v. Heard, and where you think that both. sides have to take it to trial to tell. their version of events, right? Why did. it end in a settlement? Why did it end. in this joint statement instead of a. verdict? In just a little bit, we're.

going to have on former federal. prosecutor and LA attorney Neama Rahmani. to walk us through what he thinks. happened here, tell us about the power, publicity, the law in Hollywood, why he. thinks this happened. But first, let me. just set the scene, let me give the. context. So, the movie It Ends With Us. started filming in 2023. Blake Lively played the lead, Lily. Bloom. Justin Baldoni directed and also. co-starred as her on-screen love. interest in the film. And according to court filings, things. went wrong almost immediately. Now, we. have to be careful here because there. are two very different versions of what.

happened based on the court filings. Both sides put them in legal filings. under oath. So, first, Blake Lively's. version. From her amended complaint that. was filed February 18th, 2025. According. to the document, Lively claimed that. from the first week of filming, Justin. Baldoni and Jamie Heath, so the CEO of. his production company Wayfarer Studios, made her feel uncomfortable. She claims. that Baldoni spoke about his pornography. addiction, that he shared details about. his sex life. According to her. complaint, Baldoni announced in front of.

crew members that she had never watched. pornography. She claims that during a. slow dance scene, Baldoni, and here I'm. going to read directly from the. document, repeatedly leaned in toward. Ms. Lively attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face. and mouth against her neck, putting his. thumb to her mouth, and flicking her. lower lip, caressing her, and telling. her how good she smells. None of this. took place while Mr. Baldoni was in. character as Ryle because both the. intimacy and dialogue departed from what. had been agreed to in the script. She also claimed that Heath stared at.

her bare breasts while she was topless. in her makeup trailer. According to the. complaint, Heath arrived unannounced. while she was having body makeup. removed. She asked him to keep his back. turned, but during the conversation, and. this is from the document, Ms. Lively. noticed that Mr. Heath was staring at. her while she was topless. When she. called him out, Mr. Heath brushed it off. as a habit of wanting to look at a. person while speaking to them. According. to her complaint, she texted a friend on. May 24th, 2023, quote, "I was going to. invite you to set tomorrow. These. people, whoa, it's like HR nuts today.

The both of them. I wasn't expecting. that turn. I mean, it's been present, but today I came home and cried." Later. on in that same exchange, quote, "Creeps. Like, keep your hormones to. yourselves. This is not mine. I don't. want it. I don't want you gaze or words. or tongue or videos of your naked wife. Yeah, it's shocking. Clowns. And she. says she reported her concerns to Sony. Another female cast member also. allegedly reported concerns about. Baldoni's behavior. And according to the. complaint on June 1st, 2023, Baldoni.

acknowledged those concerns in writing. saying he had been quote made aware and. that adjustments will be made. Now, she. says nothing meaningful was ever done to. fix this. So, when production shut down. due to strike, she refused to return. unless certain procedures protections. were put in place. November 9th, 2023, her lawyer sent a document called. protections for return to production and. it was a 17-point list of demands and. among them an intimacy coordinator. present at all times, no spontaneous. improvising of intimate scenes, no. discussions of personal sexual.

experiences, no one entering her trailer. while she was undressed. And this is. from the document, there shall be no. retaliation of any kind against Ms. Lively for raising concerns. Wayfarer responded. According to the. complaint, they wrote back saying, "We. find most of them not only reasonable. but also essential for the benefit of. all parties involved." And on January. 4th, 2024, there was a meeting that was. held in New York. And according to. Lively's complaint, she read aloud a. list of 20 specific incidents. And she. claims quote, "Neither Mr. Baldoni nor.

Mr. Heath denied the veracity of Ms. Lively's examples." So, the production. resumed, the movie was finished, but. according to Lively's complaint, that's. when the retaliation began. She claims. Baldoni hired a crisis PR team, Melissa. Nathan, the agency Group PR. And. according to the complaint, Nathan's. proposal included, and again I'm reading. this from the document, full credit, full social account take downs, full. social crisis team on hand for anything, engage with audiences in the right way,

start threads of theories. And and this. is K, quote, "All of this will be most. importantly untraceable. There was a document apparently called. scenario planning. This apparently was. circulated. According to the complaint, it proposed planning stories about Blake. Lively having a quote less than. favorable reputation in the industry and. to quote explore planting stories about. the weaponization of feminism. So, according to text messages that were. embedded in the complaint, when Baldoni.

worried the plan wasn't aggressive. enough, I mean, that was the allegation, his publicist Jennifer Able apparently. told Melissa Nathan that Baldoni quote. wants to feel like she can be buried. And this is from the document, you know. we can bury anyone, but I can't write. that to him. So, Lively says that they brought in a. contractor named Jed Wallace to. essentially run this digital campaign. against her. And according to the. complaint, on August 10th, 2024, a TAG. employee reported that they had quote.

started to see a shift on social due. largely to Jed and his team's efforts to. shift the narrative against Lively. She. claims that campaign worked. Negative. stories surged. Her businesses were. flooded with hateful comments. According. to the complaint, her hair care line, Blake Brown, saw retail sales drop by. 56% to 78%. She says she received threats. Her. family received threats. So, that's Lively's version. Now, Justin. Baldoni's version. From his complaint. filed January 16th, 2025, quote.

according to this document, Lively, according to him, was the one who seized. control from the very beginning of this. film. He claimed that she insisted on. choosing her own wardrobe, sending her. hundreds of images to the costume. designer, forcing them to re-shop her. entire wardrobe far exceeding the. budget. He claimed she rewrote scenes. daily, including the pivotal rooftop. scene. When he gave what he considered. mild pushback, according to his. complaint, she went silent for days, according to him. And then this is big. He claims that Blake Lively summoned him.

to her New York penthouse. And according. to the document, this is when her. husband, Ryan Reynolds, gets involved. That he allegedly launched into {quote}. enthusiastic praise for Lively's version. of the scene. Then there was a famous. unnamed celebrity friend was also there. during the same. essentially, basically Taylor Swift. And. Baldoni says he understood the message. Get on board. And according to his. complaint, Lively later texted him. calling Reynolds and the celebrity her.

dragons and wrote they also know I'm not. always good at making sure I'm seen and. utilized for fear of threatening egos or. fear of affecting the ease of the. process. They don't give a bleep about. that. And Baldoni makes the accusation. that Lively also falsely accused him. accused him of fat shaming her, which he. denies. According to his complaint, she. gave him an ultimatum, 2 weeks to recast. her or else. And he understood that as a. threat to his reputation. And. essentially, he makes the argument that. she was pressuring him throughout this. And that he was feeling threatened and.

through the power dynamic cuz she's a. big star, that was what happened. Now, according to Baldoni's filing, the. 17-point document that Lively apparently. sent before returning to production, he. says it was full of false insinuations. That an intimacy coordinator was already. in place. That Lively herself refused to. meet with that coordinator. He claims. she regularly invited him and Heath into. her trailer while breastfeeding or. pumping and now claiming that those same. visits were some form of harassment. He. describes the January 4th, 2024 meeting. very differently. According to his.

complaint, Reynolds {quote} launched. into an aggressive tirade berating. Baldoni in what Baldoni later described. as a traumatic encounter. He says the. producer with 40 years of experience had. never seen anyone speak to someone like. that. The Sony representative later said. her only regret was not intervening to. stop Ryan Reynolds. And as for the smear. campaign, Baldoni admits yes, he hired. crisis PR, but he says it was on the. defensive, not the offensive. According. to his complaint, Lively's publicist, Leslie Sloane, was the one planning. negative stories, not him. And he claims.

the text messages that Lively used were. doctored. Specifically, the exchange. where Able texted Nathan, "You really. outdid yourself with this piece.". Followed by Nathan saying, "That's why. you hired me, right? I'm the best.". According to Baldoni's complaint, that. was sarcasm. He says Lively's team. removed a key emoji, the upside-down. face, and omitted the message where. Nathan said, "Damn, this is not fair. because it's all so not me." So, according to his complaint, Lively and. Reynolds then demanded that he and. Wayfarer issue a public apology taking.

the blame for her marketing backlash. because there was the allegation that. she seemed tone-deaf about the themes of. the movie, but the counterargument was. that was just what she was instructed to. do. And bottom line is this, when they. refused, he says the gloves came off. Oh, and then the Taylor Swift of it all, I mentioned that famous friend. Now, she. wasn't deposed in this case, she wasn't. on the witness list, but by all. accounts, she was going to come up. during the course of this trial because. Baldoni made the claim that Lively used. Taylor Swift, her power, her fame as.

leverage to pressure Baldoni as the two. women were at one time very good. friends, and that she had a conversation. or was there with Baldoni. And during. the course of discovery, there were text. message conversations that came up, like. this one, quote, "If Justin was. strategic, he would be like, no Taylor. Swift in the trailer, meaning her song, because that gives you more power over. the film. That's your ally, not his.". Lively seemingly responds, "Get yourself. a best friend who thinks like the actual.

Roman Empire." And Swift apparently. replies, "His misogyny runs so deep, he. thinks women are incapable of winning. chess matches or making long game power. plays.". So, those are the two versions, essentially. There's a lot more, but I. don't, you know, I could go 2 hours on. this. We've done a lot of sidebars on. the back and forth, too, if you want to. check them out. But for nearly 2 years, those dueling narratives lived in court. filings, leaked to the press, dissected. on social media. What do we actually know? What did the. evidence show? Why did a case that.

seemed headed for a massive public trial. end this way? Okay, so I want to. understand this more and I want to go to. somebody who has handled these types of. cases before. I'm joined by LA attorney, former prosecutor, Nima Ramani. Nima, always good to have you. Okay, so why do. you think they settled? Why did they. settle now? Because. there was a narrative for a long time. and yes, the situation has changed, but. there was a narrative for a long time, they got to take this to trial. They got. to present the evidence, they got to. take the stand, they got to tell their. side of the story, they got to reverse.

the narratives, whatever has been put. out there. Trial's going to play be the. place to do it. Not the case. >> Yes, see, I was one of those people who. originally thought this case would go. all the way to trial, but I changed. my tune just a few weeks ago and this is. why. The reason I thought the case would. go to trial is the parties absolutely. despise one another and this isn't about. making money for Blake Lively. You know, Ryan Reynolds sold Mint Mobile. for a billion dollars. This is about. sending a message, clearing one's name in Hollywood. It's. essentially a Johnny Depp Amber Heard.

type case. But, with the court's rulings, there was. really nothing really of substance left. in terms of the claims. Obviously, the. first hammer to fall was Justin. Baldoni's defamation claims being. dismissed on First Amendment and. litigation privilege grounds. But, when. several weeks ago, Blake Lively's sexual. harassment claims were dismissed because. she was an independent contractor and. not an employee and we're going to trial. just on some retaliation, breach of.

contract, smear campaign type claims. There's just nothing left, not enough. meat on the bone to make it worthwhile. to spend hundreds of thousands of. dollars and weeks to go through a. full-blown jury trial. >> And to be clear, what what would have. been left over at that trial wouldn't. have necessarily included everything. we've seen for the last 2 years. All the. text messages, all the allegations, it. would have been. more limited, right? In terms of what. the trial would have looked like? >> That's absolutely right. So, some of. that salacious evidence, the voice note,

the balcony scene, the text messages, they're not relevant to the claims that. were left. Lively's strongest claims, at. least in terms of exposure, were those. sexual harassment, retaliation, hostile. work environment, gender discrimination. claims. That was. the juiciest, the sexiest, but also the. most valuable. And the issue is this, if. you're an independent contractor, you. don't have those rights. You do as an. employee. So, I mean, example I'll give.

is obviously, I love being on your show, I love being on Law & Crime. I'm not. getting paid, obviously, but even if I. was, I'm an independent contractor. So, if you say vile, racist, sexist things. to me, which you would never do, it's. not protected. I can't sue you for it. So, because the bulk of Lively's serious. claims are gone, there's really nothing. left. And I said, when those claims were. dismissed, that this case would likely. settle. >> Clearly, you're not getting the. suitcases of money I keep sending to. your office, so you might have to check. with your staff about that.

Disappointing, to say the least. You're. not an easy find. You're not easy to get. on. Okay, so let me ask you this. I also think this case is different than. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, because. everything came out. Like, if this is. this is a case that you weren't only. going to fight in the court of law, but. the court of public opinion, there was only so much a jury verdict. would get you, right? I mean, half this. battle, we already saw the text. messages, the videos, the audio, that it. made me wonder, in the court of public.

opinion, I think that's also a reason. why this settled. And it makes me. wonder, at the end of the day, right. now, who won? Who won? >> I would say that they both lost, but I. think Justin Baldoni made a comeback. And you're absolutely right. This was. never about the courtroom. This was. about the court of public opinion. When. you have the publicists being sued and. being dragged into the case. And listen, I'm sitting here in LA. I go after and. sue a lot of celebrities. I've. represented celebrities. So this is part.

of the game. I got publicists here in my. studio that I'm sitting in and I have. external publicists as well. So you have. to put pressure on the other side. I. think Lively really underestimated. Baldoni's resolve. I think she thought. that if she filed her complaint with the. California Civil Rights Department and. then the New York Times when they. published that hit piece, Baldoni was. dropped by his agents, William Morris. Agency. He had his women's advocacy. award rescinded. Obviously, Lively is.

better funded and stronger in terms of. her position and financial resources. The fact that Baldoni came back and. really changed the narrative. And I'm. telling you, I bet you the majority of. people in the comments, Jesse, are team. Baldoni. I think his team did a. masterful job. in terms of their filings and in terms. of how they handled both the traditional. media and the new media and social media. to show that he wasn't necessarily the. harasser or the creep that Lively.

painted him out to be. And I think. Lively came out looking really not. likable, but I think they both dragged. one another through the mud and there's. really no clear winners here. >> I thought the joint statement was. interesting because in a way it. acknowledged Lively's claims. It. acknowledged what she claimed she went. through. And it also didn't suggest. nothing happened on set. They they there. are these references to improprieties. and talking about problems on set and. the challenges. What did you make of. that joint statement? What did it tell.

you? >> Well, it told me, look, and a lot of. people who are watching are saying that. Lively dropped the case. Well, that's. not what happened. The claims that were. remaining were Lively's. So, Baldoni did. have some exposure. I don't think it was. hundreds of millions of dollars of. exposure, but look, at a minimum, there's the cost of defense, right? Weeks of his time, minimum hundreds of. thousands of dollars, maybe more to push. this case all the way through trial. So, Lively still had some leverage, not.

certainly the leverage that she had when. she initially filed. So, to get him to. acknowledge something was, I think, important to her because, like you said, this is really about the court of public. opinion. And getting Baldoni to pay. something, obviously we have no idea. what it was, but I wouldn't be surprised. if there was some modest sum. >> Well, actually, it's funny you say that. So, Page Six came out and said, um. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni each. earned no money. in their lawsuit settlement. Now, I.

don't know how they would know that. because isn't that the the terms of that. confidential not public, but you tell me. how that would make sense. >> Well, then, if they earned no money and. all Blake Lively got was. this sort of joint statement and. concession, this is. a big win for Justin Baldoni, and I. would say a pretty significant loss for. Blake Lively. I mean, reportedly, she spent millions.

of dollars on this case. I wouldn't be. surprised if it even went into the. eight-figures, $10 million plus. And all. you got was this joint statement? If. what Page Six is reporting is true, and. look, Page Six is great. I talked to him. yesterday about this case. I'm not. denying it, then huge win for Justin. Baldoni and his fans. >> So, let me also lay this out a little. bit, too. Um Brian Freedman, who we've. talked about before, an attorney for. Baldoni, spoke to NBC News. Said his. client is feeling pretty good about the.

settlement. Added there was a. willingness to get the case resolved. given the opportunity and the position. the case was set. And so, you know, when. we were presented with an opportunity, we took that opportunity. He added, "I. think he absolutely wants a chance to. tell his story and I'm sure one day, maybe sooner than later, he'll tell his. story and we'll get to hear his story. But, you know, when presented with an. opportunity that you don't have to tell. your story in front of, you know, in. front of jurors and other people in a. courtroom, and you actually have the. time and the ability to tell the full. and complete narrative of what you've.

experienced, I think that's what he. really wants. And then And then I'm. excited for him to be able to have that. opportunity." And he also said, "Uh the. reason this case was fought so hard was. because of the sexual harassment claims. And so, when summary judgment happened. and all of those claims, 10 or 13 claims. were thrown out, I think that changed. the nature of the case and the nature of. what it was about and the effect of it, which is what you just said." But, talk. to me about this idea of like do you. would you advise Justin Baldoni to come. out and do an interview? I can imagine a. lot of people would be interested in.

that interview. Legally speaking, could that put him in. jeopardy? >> It could potentially, but I think Lively. has learned her lesson. I don't think. she's going to go after him again. And. obviously, we know how important the. perception. is here in Hollywood. So, I think he. absolutely will. He has always sort of. prided himself as someone who was on the. side of women and women's rights. So, to. change that narrative, I think is. important. So, I think absolutely. I. don't think Friedman would have said. that unless that's already in the works. and he can say with a straight face,

again, if the reporting is true, that I. didn't pay Blake Lively a dime. She. dismissed her case. This was a mutual. walk away. And it's just that simple. So, there's no reason why he shouldn't. move forward with an interview like. that, in my opinion, because there's. tremendous value to him and his brand. And I think maybe a lot of people that. didn't know Justin Baldoni now know who. he is. So, uh again, where he was. to where he is now is really nothing.

short of extraordinary if indeed it was. a mutual walk away and he didn't pay. Blake Lively a dollar. >> What do you think the trial would have. looked like? I mean, again, um, it was very limited. It was right. Blake Lively against his production. company, not even against the two of. them if I understand it correctly. Um, what do you think the trial would have. looked like? What do you think the. evidence would have been? What do you. think the verdict would have been? >> It's interesting. If you look at. Lively's exhibit list, if you look at. her witness list, you would have thought.

that the trial would go longer than a. month, but you know how these federal. judges are, right? I mean, they keep it. moving. fast. So, I think Lively's team wanted. to tell this sort of story. uh, you know, manipulation and harassment. and her speaking out on behalf of. herself and other women and they wanted. to bring all these other women who were. on set, who have interacted with. Valdonez to say that he's creepy and. this is part of his MO or some sort of. uh, you know, type evidence to show that it.

was just not limited to her, but he was. harassing other victims as well, but I. don't think the judge would have had it, Jesse. I think it would have been a fast. trial. You get into the breach of. contract issues and retaliation issues. Obviously, some of the publicists would. testify, maybe some damages witnesses. on, you know, the the harm to her from. the smear campaign, but it would. probably wrap up in a couple weeks if. you were asking me. Certainly a lot less. than Lively originally anticipated. because of frankly, I don't think the. judge would have had it.

>> And in terms of the effect on Ryan. Reynolds or Taylor Swift or any of the. other cast members, the kind of. ancillary characters to all this, um, what do you think the effect of it is of. this development is on them? >> Yeah, I think Taylor Swift is probably. the the second most happy person that. this is going away. The last thing she. wants for her brand is to be dragged. into it. It seemed like you know, Lively. was. trying to leverage I mean, Lively's.

famous, but Taylor Swift obviously is on. another level to put pressure on. Baldoni. I don't think. anyone wants to deal with any lawsuit, but especially celebrities. That's the. last thing they want to deal with. So, I. think uh Taylor Swift is happy and. relieved, you know, she uh was able to. get out of giving a deposition and I. think the fact that she's not going to. testify at trial is a big win for her. You know, Ryan Reynolds, I think was. you know, dirtied up somewhat. He was on. those text messages. Some of them were.

pretty offensive. Obviously, look, we. know that people talk to their close. friends in a certain way and certainly. their spouses in a way that they. wouldn't to the general public, but I. don't think they necessarily wanted all. that dirty laundry aired and it was in a. way that I think was not flattering to. both Reynolds and Lively. >> To be clear, if somebody's listening to. this and thinking about the case as the. claims being dismissed, it wasn't on the. merits. Like, for example, it like we.

don't know what really happened on that. set, do we? Or what happened afterwards, do we? The they these claims these cases. were dismissed on very specific. procedural legal grounds, right? And not. necessarily because of the truth or the. lack of truth or the credibility of. these accusations. >> That's absolutely right, Jesse. So, for. people to say that Lively was harassed. or wasn't, we never got to the merits of. the case, the substance. This is purely. a procedural issue. And I can tell you,

I mean, but it's the procedural issue in. any employment case. You just couple. months ago, we my me, my law firm, and. myself we went to trial against Kanye. West. And really, the only issue was was. our client, Kanye West, employee or was. he an independent contractor? That's the. whole reason we went to trial. The. jurors found in our favor, and they. found that Kanye West, now Ye, did. employ our client, and they awarded some. damages. But, had he not been.

an employee, there was 50 questions on. that verdict form, Jesse. Question one. was, was our client, Tony Saxon, an. employee? If the jurors had answered no, they were they were instructed to skip. all the remaining questions. Sign and date, because our client would. have had absolutely no rights if he were. an independent contractor. >> That's so interesting. All right, well, look, this is. an end to quite a saga. I still, by the way, believe, and I. correct me if I'm wrong, there's still. one remaining case. I think the New York.

Times, still their lawsuit is maybe. active. I don't know if you saw. something different, but. you know, I don't know if that's where. that's going to go, or how that's going. to settle. But, this look, it was really mostly between. Baldoni and Lively that we were. listening to, and really trying to focus. on. So, let's see what happens next. We'll keep in touch about it. I'll send. another pot of money your way to always. make your appearances on Sidebar. But, thank you. Always appreciate it, Nima. >> Thank you, Jesse. Love being on, always.

>> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us, and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock, as well. If you. want to follow me, X, Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber LIVE, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.