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eDiscovery in the News: Justin Baldoni Demands Marvel, Disney Preserve All Communications in Contentious “He Said/She Said” Litigation

Justin Baldoni, producer and star of 2024’s “It Ends With Us,” has sent a legal hold notice letter to Disney and Marvel Studios, demanding the studios preserve all relevant documents and data with regards to Baldoni.

January 21, 2025 — by Caitlin Oyler

Justin Baldoni, producer and star of 2024’s “It Ends With Us,” has sent a legal hold notice letter to Disney and Marvel Studios, demanding the studios preserve all relevant documents and data with regards to Baldoni. The dispute revolves around several lawsuits related to the production of the motion picture adaption of Colleen Hoover’s hit novel of the same name. On December 31st, 2024 Baldoni’s co-star Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and the studios behind the hit film, alleging harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign. This lawsuit followed an initial action with the California Civil Rights Department, where Lively first revealed her allegations against Baldoni and the film’s producers. Baldoni quickly thereafter filed a suit against the New York Times for defamation after their reporting on Lively’s complaint, and on January 16, 2025 filed a counterclaim against Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, making similar allegations of a public smear campaign and defamatory behavior.

A week before filing his counterclaim in the Southern District of New York, Baldoni’s attorney sent a legal hold demand letter to the studios behind Reynolds’ hit movie franchise Deadpool. While Disney and Marvel were not involved in the production of “It Ends With Us”, Baldoni alleges that Reynolds was mocking Baldoni’s persona and on-set disputes with Lively in a clip from “Nicepool,” a tongue-in-cheek alternate ending to the 2024 “Deadpool and Wolverine” movie. The letter sent to Marvel and Disney requires that the studios preserve “any and all documents relating to the development of the ‘Nicepool’ character” as well as “communications relating to the development, writing, and filming of storylines and scenes featuring ‘Nicepool.’” The letter also calls for the studio to retain “any and all documents relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate, or bully Baldoni through the character of ‘Nicepool.’”

Legal hold notices generally serve to preserve data and communications to be used in litigation, and require individuals and corporations to cease automatic or manual deletion of any records that may be relevant to the underlying claims or defenses in the lawsuit. The primary objective of a litigation hold notice to avoid spoliation, or the destruction of evidence. It is important to note that a party’s duty to preserve data can start before the receipt of a legal hold notice or official legal action. Parties are expected to preserve data when a litigation is reasonably anticipated, even if a lawsuit has not yet been filed. The consequences of willfully or negligently ignoring a legal hold notice can include monetary sanctions from the court and/or adverse inference instructions to the judge or jury at trial.

While Disney and Marvel are not named parties in any of the Lively v. Baldoni actions, third parties are commonly subpoenaed in litigation and their data is collected, reviewed and produced during discovery, particularly if that same data is not otherwise discoverable from the parties in a lawsuit. While Baldoni will certainly attempt to ascertain the origins of Reynolds’ “Nicepool” character from his discovery requests to Reynolds and Lively, the legal hold letter sent to the studios serves as a supplementary route to obtain evidence he hopes will support several of the claims in his lawsuit. While this high profile dispute involving some of Hollywood’s biggest stars has captivated the media cycle, it is an important illustration of real life discovery issues facing litigants in disputes of all sizes.

If your organization is seeking support with eDiscovery, our team has solutions to address all phases of the discovery process. At CODISCOVR, we deliver client-focused, defensible, and scalable solutions using advanced technology and intelligent review practices to meet eDiscovery, document review, and information governance needs in a manner that reduces the risks and costs associated with electronically stored information (ESI). Reach out to Caitlin Oyler, Counsel at CODISCOVR. Caitlin has over a decade of experience providing high-level advice to clients regarding all phases of the eDiscovery life cycle and managing high-profile document collections, reviews, and productions.

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