Taylor Swift’s legal team seeks to reject Justin Baldoni’s subpoena in Blake Lively's case calling it an "undue burden and expense on a non-party"

Taylor Swift was recently subpoenaed by Justin Baldoni’s legal team amidst his courtroom battle against Blake Lively. On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Billboard reported that The Tortured Poets Department singer’s lawyers have filed a motion to reject the subpoena.

According to the documents obtained by the magazine, Venable, the law firm representing Taylor Swift, hit back at Baldoni’s team for filing a subpoena. The legal firm reportedly stated in its filing (on May 12),

“Venable had nothing to do with the film at issue or any of the claims or defenses asserted in the underlying lawsuit. There is no reason for this subpoena other than to distract from the facts of the case and impose undue burden and expense on a non-party.”

Venable branded the subpoena Justin Baldoni’s team filed as a “fishing expedition.” The legal firm argued, “even if Venable were somehow involved (again, it is not),” the documents requested by Baldoni’s “should be sourced from Lively and Reynolds.”

The motion was filed days after Taylor Swift’s representative criticized the subpoena filed against her. The rep shared a statement via Us Weekly,

“Taylor 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.”

The statement continues,

“She did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history.”

According to Billboard, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have also supported Venable's motion against Baldoni’s request. The couple reportedly called the subpoena “abuse of the discovery process” in a filing on May 13.

Blake Lively’s lawyer recently slammed Justin Baldoni’s team for wanting to subpoena celebs like Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman

Mike Gottlieb, the attorney of A Simple Favor actress, recently spoke to People about the upcoming trial between his client and It Ends with Us director-actor. During the conversation, the lawyer also responded to Baldoni’s team potentially subpoenaing celebrities like Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman, who have a connection with Lively and Reynolds, respectively. Gottlieb told the magazine,

“It’s completely unclear what claims or defenses in the case any of these celebrities… have any relevance to at all. This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of sexual harassment on the set. It’s not a case about how songs were chosen for the movie. It’s not a case about fictional Marvel characters in Deadpool movies.”

Gottlieb questioned the reasoning behind the subpoena and said,

“Do they [celebrities] have any actual relevance to the case at hand? You can't just go around subpoenaing people because they're famous and you think it will generate a bunch of headlines.”

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Remarking on the potential subpoena, Mike Gottlieb highlighted that “federal courts don't tolerate that kind of behavior.” However, Bryan Freedman, the attorney representing Justin Baldoni, rebuffed Gottlieb’s statement.

He proclaimed that Lively “brought her high-profile friends into this situation,” disregarding their “personal or public backlash.” Freedman alleges that Blake “used her Dragons” to manipulate Baldoni.

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