Taylor Paul Awarded TPO, Blake Lively DEMANDS Baldoni Witness List & Ciara Miller Throws Shade
54 min
•Apr 8, 202611 days agoSummary
Host Zack Peter discusses Taylor Frankie Paul's court victory securing visitation rights and a protective order, Blake Lively's ongoing legal demands in her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni and Wayfair Studios, and Ciara Miller's shade toward Amanda and Sydney Sweeney amid the Summer House scandal fallout.
Insights
- Blake Lively's legal strategy appears sophisticated but built on weak foundational claims; dismissal of 10 claims signals potential case collapse despite aggressive discovery tactics
- The Van Zahn shell company lawsuit may be challenged as a sham discovery mechanism, potentially invalidating key evidence obtained through questionable subpoena practices
- Civil litigation outcomes depend more on courtroom storytelling and jury persuasion than objective truth; evidence presentation and attorney credibility matter as much as facts
- Reality TV franchises face audience fatigue when over-supplying scandal content; strategic silence and measured reveals generate more sustained interest than constant updates
- High-profile defendants' public silence and absence from proceedings can signal marital strain or strategic distancing, influencing public perception independent of legal merit
Trends
Strategic use of shell companies and third-party lawsuits to obtain discovery in high-profile disputesJury trials in celebrity litigation increasingly influenced by pre-trial public opinion and social media narrative controlReality TV franchises pivoting to spin-offs and limited series to manage scandal fatigue and maintain audience engagementLegal teams employing aggressive discovery and witness lists as PR tools rather than trial necessitiesCelebrity defendants' social media silence interpreted as admission of guilt or marital discord by public observersProtective orders and no-contact agreements becoming standard resolution in high-conflict reality TV relationshipsMedia monitoring of pre-trial motions and evidence dismissals as indicators of case strength before trialRetaliation claims in entertainment contracts increasingly difficult to prove without concrete evidence of causation
Topics
Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni litigation strategyVan Zahn discovery tactics and legal ethicsProtective orders in custody disputesSexual harassment claims dismissal in entertainmentRetaliation and breach of contract in film productionReality TV scandal management and audience fatigueSummer House and Winter House franchise spin-offsCelebrity marriage strain indicatorsJury selection and trial preparationPre-trial motion strategy in high-profile casesWitness testimony and deposition strategySettlement negotiations in civil litigationMedia coverage of entertainment lawsuitsContractor vs. employee classification in disputesImplied covenant of good faith in contracts
Companies
Wayfair Studios
Defendant company in Blake Lively's lawsuit; no longer personally liable after 10 claims dismissed
It Ends With Us LLC
Production company defendant in Blake Lively's retaliation and breach of contract case
Van Zahn
Shell company owned by Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds; used to file contract dispute lawsuit for discovery
Bravo
Network producing Summer House, Winter House, and spin-off In the City; discussed regarding franchise strategy
Peacock
Streaming platform where Vanderpump Rules reboot aired with poor live ratings
Drip Drop
Hydration supplement sponsor; offers electrolyte packets with 20% discount via promo code
Supercast
Platform hosting No Filter All Access bonus episodes and exclusive Q&A content
People
Blake Lively
Suing Wayfair Studios and Justin Baldoni for retaliation and breach of contract; case reduced to 3 claims
Justin Baldoni
Primary defendant in Blake Lively lawsuit; expected to testify at trial; no longer personally liable
Taylor Frankie Paul
Awarded temporary protective order and 8 hours weekly visitation with son Ever; in custody dispute
Dakota
Granted custody of son Ever; must maintain 100-yard distance from Taylor Frankie Paul
Ciara Miller
Threw shade at Amanda and Sydney Sweeney regarding Summer House scandal and relationship drama
Sydney Sweeney
Interviewed by Ciara Miller at Euphoria red carpet; discussed friendship betrayal in context of scandal
Amanda
Central figure in Summer House scandal; subject of shade and 'Scamanda' nickname
Ryan Reynolds
Made CEO of Van Zahn shell company; notably absent from supporting Blake Lively publicly during trial
Jamie Heath
Defendant in Blake Lively case; expected to testify at trial as company representative
Steve Sarowitz
Defendant in Blake Lively case; expected to testify at trial regarding retaliation claims
Jennifer Abel
Defendant in Blake Lively case; likely to testify; also has separate litigation against Stephanie Jones
Melissa Nathan
Defendant in Blake Lively case; may not appear at trial due to jurisdiction restrictions
Jed Wallace
Defendant in Blake Lively case; case moved to Texas; unlikely to appear at trial
Stephanie Jones
Subpoenaed via Van Zahn lawsuit; provided text messages that became key evidence in Blake Lively case
Brian Friedman
Blake Lively's lead attorney; known for settlement negotiations; will present case at trial
Zack Peter
Host of No Filter podcast; provides legal analysis and commentary on celebrity litigation
Daniel Faroozan
Attorney guest who previously discussed pre-trial motions and Van Zahn implications on the show
Quotes
"The foundation of her case is not strong. There are termites in the wood and the foundation is starting to crumble."
Zack Peter•Mid-episode
"The courtroom is not about the evidence or the truth. The courtroom is about the case that you're able to present. It's about who tells the better story."
Zack Peter•Late episode
"They're clearly addicted to each other, right? Whoever, they're both toxic. And when they're together, it's even more toxic."
Zack Peter•Early-mid episode
"What's legally acceptable and what's morally acceptable are two very different things. Just because something appears unethical does not mean that it's illegal."
Zack Peter•Mid-episode
Full Transcript
Oh, it's bad. What? What would the people do it? Mate. Thought you'd be into it, Sam. What, me? No, that's deeply offensive. Harry, you're wearing socks and sandals. In public. Come on. I travel in style. You don't. It's a new low. They're the mullet of footwear. And what's wrong with mullets? Sharing moments you'll never live down. On The Train, you can. What's up, guys? Welcome on in. Looks like Taylor Frankie Paul just got herself a good court win. Blake Lively appears to continue a spiral downward trajectory as she's demanding that the Bell Donies team, the Wayfair Party, she's demanding that they turn over their witness list. She wants it now. Plus, Sierra Miller is throwing some shade with Sydney Sweeney at Amanda with this whole West and Amanda. What did they call it? Scamanda? Scamanda ball? I don't know what we're calling it. We need to come up with a more creative name for it, but lots to dive into. Let's get it, baby. This is No Filter with Zach Peter. Your go-to source for all the latest pop culture and reality TVT, surf rash all week long. Now let's dive in. What's going on, everybody? Welcome on in. Welcome on in. Welcome on in. Everybody in the club. What's up? Happy Wednesday. Please pray for me and make sure I don't choke anybody. My stress levels and my anxiety levels have been on an all-time high, a 12 out of 10 the last few days. So I'm trying to... That's why yesterday's is activated pop off meant, you know, I got to relieve some steam. I've been running lots of miles these past couple of days. Lots of miles that we've been packing in today. My Starbucks order says you're awesome. I'm like, oh, that's so sweet. Thank you. Thank you for that very sweet reminder. Okay. Zach should have a glass of champagne every morning with us. That's like Hoda and... What was it? Hoda and Kathie Lee. Remember when they would go online and they would drink in the mornings? Okay. Okay. Yes. Jesus, take the wheel for it, please. Jesus, listen, when I'm telling you, reprimanda, I have been praying and been like, Jesus, I know you're testing my patience, Lord. I know you are testing my cortisol levels. I know that you are... You're testing me and I'm trying to stay patient. I'm trying to stay grateful. I'm trying to just stay in the flow of abundance and good that comes my way and trust, right? Faith, patience, prudence. Right now, pride is the one that's been winning the most. And I know that's one of the seven dead Lucins and I'm just... I'm here to tell you, daddy is trying very hard. Zach, flex your arms for me. Today was a strength day, but I did... Even though today was a weightlifting strength day, I did run... I did do a good two-mile power run. I was like, I need at least two miles, right? I usually like to get in like a minimum of three miles, but yesterday I did two runs and so I was like, all right, I probably should just... I wasn't going to run today and I was like, well, I just... I need to sweat a little bit. I need to get a little runner's high. So I did run a good, quick two miles at the end of my lift. So yes, we love those strong arms. The better to choke you with, my dear. Special KKS1 says, I went on a hike and got rid of stress yesterday. It worked. That's good. I didn't even have coffee yesterday because my cortisol levels were already so high that I didn't need any more caffeine. Yes, drink with us in the UK. That sounds like a fun time. It's five o'clock somewhere in the world. Okay. Let's see. We have... I mean, we seem to be doing better than Blake Lively. And well, Taylor Frankie-Paul did get herself a bit of a legal win. She just got a temporary protective order against Dakota. So, Durr Koda, they... The judge did rule in Taylor Frankie-Paul's favor saying, listen, we're gonna... You guys need some space from each other. You should have no contact from each other, which is healthy. I can't believe that we're just now considering this as a potential good option for them. But yeah. So Dakota is now, I believe his attorney has issued a statement because he got his temporary restraining order against her, his protective order. He got that with Ever. He was able to keep custody of Ever. And so they had a court hearing this week. And in this court hearing, she was grant... Or after this court hearing, she was granted her own protective order so that he's... I believe he's supposed to stay a hundred yards away from her and they are to have no contact. But Taylor did get up to eight hours per week of visitation with their son Ever. So she will be able to see her kid. She has been able to see him in the last couple of weeks as, you know, all of this has been unfolding. But now she will be able to have visitation with her son. However, she chooses to break up those eight hours is up to her. I would imagine there's a mediator, somebody in the middle that will be helping them with the transfer of Ever. Because again, he has to stay a hundred yards away from her. They can't have any contact. It's all one big hot mess. So let's see what his team had to say. Today's hearing was used by the respondent to assassinate Dakota's character as a dad, whose only concern is the welfare of his son Ever. We look forward to the 30th to tell the true story. Dinny, ni, dinny, ni. So that's the next court hearing is on April 30th. So she has her temporary protective order until then. She made allegations that he had assaulted her. She claims that he banged her head into the dashboard and that he held her against her will in his car as he took her away from her home. I mean, it sounded very, very grandiose, but it's just crazy. Gwen says, sad that it took a turn. Truly, they don't, they truly, but they truly don't need to contact. Sad that it took that, but they truly don't need contact. I agree, Gwen. I, they should have cut contact a long time ago. Long, long time ago. Long, long time ago. Is it Ever or Evert? Ever. Ever. E-V-E-R is the baby's name. Ever. Okay. Dinny, ni, dinny, ni. Dinny, ni, dinny, ni. Okay. Vancey it. Um, let's see. Mimir says the two need full on restraining orders to stay away from each other. Yeah, they're clearly addicted to each other, right? Whoever, they're both toxic. And when they're together, it's even more toxic. So whatever, I don't care who the issue is. I think they're both the issue, but regardless, they both need to stay away from each other. They need no more communication. They just need to be done because like it's just, it's not healthy. And can you imagine what these kids are going through? You have her kids and then you have, um, his son ever, I would imagine her ex Tate has a lot to say about all of this, but it's just crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. But we did actually get some footage from the courtroom in Utah. So we'll see what happens and, uh, you know, we'll, where this goes, but we are hearing that there were reports that the secret lives of mom and wives, they're now ready to start filming again. And I'm like, you guys literally halted filming. You're all like, we're going to band together and we don't want to film anymore. And the now Jesse's posting weird videos with hanging out with Marciano and they're making it look like they're dating. And I'm just like exhausted with all of the mom talk and the videos and all the stuff. Like I'm kind of, oh, it's mom talk overkill. And it's making me not even interested in the show anymore. Like I was interested when there was a scandal and like, usually when there's a scandal, you kind of just like let it lay low for a bit so that you continue to build that interest. But now that they're over supplying us with so much content, it's just like, it's exhausting. Like at least with the summer house scandal, we're getting crumbs, right? We got a new trailer of in the city, which is the summer house spin off, which will show Amanda and it will show Kyle and it'll show the demise of Marciano. And it'll show the demise of their relationship, of their marriage. And then we do get a West cameo. So I'm assuming maybe we get a little more into her budding friendship with West and what is going to happen with Amanda and Kyle. But I don't know. We shall see. It's going to get crazy, crazy. But I'm actually looking for the in the city spin off. I actually think it's going to do well and it has me hooked already just based off of the trailer that Bravo released yesterday. So we'll see. But yeah, but like even then, like we're getting crumbs of it, right? Like Sierra, she was just on not collar day. She was just on she was at the euphoria red carpet and there. And she was interviewing Sydney Sweeney and there she made a joke and she's just like, well, I just want to know, you know, what do you do when your best friend cheats on you? And Sydney Sweeney is like, oh, that's a guy. That's a good. That's a big one. And then Sierra's like, I feel like you better get married, which it's true. If you're going to blow up the entire summer house, you better be all in. You better be locked in. You better be ready, Freddie, to go all the way. Go the distance. Like Tom and Raquel. I was like, you guys better go the distance. I wanted Tom and Raquel to be the next Spidey when Scandavall first happened. I was like, I want them to come back. I want them to give us at make it worth it. You know, I think if Raquel had come back and they had leaned into the relationship, like I think they could have. I always said, and this would have been what saved Vanderpump rules and what could have potentially opened them up to have the reboot that they have now. But Bravo doesn't and listen to me. But I always said what Bravo should have done and maybe I'll make a summer house prediction. I have to think on it. But what I said was after Scandavall, because it was such a peak. It was such a high. I was like, end on a high. Do the friends thing, right? Where friends, they ended the sitcom on a high. Do that and launch spin offs, right? Launch the Valley, but do Scandavall. And then the follow up season to Scandavall branded as the final season, a sure and final season. Rather than trying to milk it for everything that they could for all the episodes, they tried to squeeze out of that last season, which really wasn't a great season. For all they tried to milk it for, they should have just condensed it into at best six episodes, even if you wanted to make it a four part special. I think six episodes, they could have. That would have been a nice way for them to stretch it out and then really end it and do it the way the Hills did it, right? Where the Hills had the Hills final season. It was after Lauren Conrad. It was with Kristen Cavallari now being the lead of the show. And it was branded as the final season and it was meant to tie everybody's storylines up. It was everybody went into that season knowing this is going to be the beginning of the end. So let's make sure we have conclusion, right? And I said, let's see Sheena and Brock move into their new house and sail off into the sunset with their marriage, right? Even though we know Sheena was hiding her damn affair. Let them sail off into the sunset. Let Lala have this new chapter where she's building this family on her own, sail off into the sunset. Ariana is now happy. She's making money. She's doing Love Island. She has a new boyfriend. Sail off into the sunset. Tom and Raquel, diabolical. We were going to hate them, but look at the final season of the Hills. We only had Spencer and Heidi for those first few episodes before they became the full villains of the final season. And then eventually they didn't even make it to the final episode. I mean, they were like flashbacks of the closing montage and stuff, but like that's what we should have done was branded that season. And I said this and probably didn't listen to me. And then from there, you can launch a spin off like the Valley where you get some of them to move on over there and you can follow their lives in a different area. And then you could eventually in like two years try to revamp it. Not at Sir, because Sir has already done that whole thing has already been played out. Focus on one of Lisa Vanderpump's new restaurants. She came up with Vanderpump Villa, which I thought was a much smarter and I think been a more successful extension of her brand beyond this Vanderpump rules reboot, which if correct me if I'm wrong, I don't believe the network has officially greenlit the show for another season. I know that it was like rumored for a minute that like, oh, the show might be coming back or it's, you know, they, they're predicting that it's going to be picked up again. But I believe that was a premature announcement and Alex Baskin a couple weeks later said that that's what they were hoping for, but they had not yet formally been greenlit. And I don't think that they will because even if the ratings were decent, which I mean the live ratings were atrocious and we will never see the peacock ratings. But they were trying to convince us that it was the best thing since sliced bread, right? Well, I don't know if the fate is there because even if the numbers were there, there wasn't any cultural relevance. It didn't make any impact. People weren't talking about it. It wasn't becoming a meme. It wasn't becoming a headline. Like it was just such a lackluster flop. So, you know, but yeah, so Sierra threw her shade with Sidney Sweeney, which listen, I'm here for it. I love a good shade in the midst of a big scandal. I love it. I love it. I love it a lot. It's all good. So we shall see. We shall see. We shall see. Let's give X. I feel like I'm getting a little parts after all the running that I've been doing. So I feel like I just need to give a little nerve in the club to my pals at drip drop drip drop. Listen, between work and travel and trying to stay active, all of the things. I mean, I just posted on Instagram the other day, like a day in my life on Monday of like taping Billy Bush and taping Juicy and then going to tape Juicy Scoop. And then, you know, having to walk the dogs in between having to come back and taping a filter and, you know, putting out all the content. And like it was a crazy day on top of like working out and running and doing all of that that lately. I'm just like when I'm feeling a little off, I feel like when my energy dips, it's usually not sleep. It's not coffee. It's usually hydration. My body needs good hydration, good fuel and drip drop has become my new go to fix. Okay. drip drop is doctor formulated proven fast hydration that helps your body and your mind work better, which is exactly what 2026 you needs. Think support for the busy days, the long workouts and everything in between. Okay. drip drop uses science based formulas for rapid hydration so you feel the results fast while getting three times the electrolytes of leading sports drinks. And there's a reason over 90% of top college and pro sports teams use drip drop and trust drip drop because it helps hydrate you faster and more effectively than water alone. Plus, not only do they have their 16 original flavors that you can choose from, which are delicious. Not going to knock any of the 16 OG flavors, but my personal favorites are their zero sugar plus packets to break through formula with advanced with an advanced blend of six key electrolytes, 15 essential vitamins and nutrients and no sugar or artificial sweeteners. Okay. I had the watermelon this morning. I also have the tangerine that's become a new fave of mine. So you have options. You have 16 original flavors, eight zero sugar plus options. My personal favorite at the moment is watermelon because I just feel like it's it's got the summer vibes. Right. Right now drip drop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to drip drop.com and use the promo code no filter. That's drip drop.com promo code no filter for 20% off stock up now at drip drop.com use promo code. No filter. No filter. Also, if you are not a member of no filter, all access on supercast, why not? Yes, should be because guess what? Guess what everybody in the curb. We just released a new bonus episode, a Q and a episode and it's a juicy when I answer all of your burning questions. Nothing is off limits from my sex life to my friendship fallouts to Mormon wives T to my thoughts on on the state of the worlds. I'm like Fitzgerald's Grant from Scandinavix seven like a scandal mode, but go to all access dot supercast.com to become a member of no filters. All access on supercast. Go and check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Look at flowers in the basement says drip drop is really good and has helped me during my perimenopause. Listen, hydration is good. Hydration is where it's at ever birdie. Woo, ask Zach anything. Yes, lots of tea and I get I get very personal and very real with you guys in this one. So be sure to tune in. Zach, I'll try anything you recommend. The soul gummies help me so much. Oh my God. Yes, I have my soul gummies too. They don't sponsor the show. They haven't. Yeah, they don't sponsor the show anymore, but I do still have my soul gummies. They had great promotions when they were sponsoring us last year. I still order them. They are delicious. I can't remember what birthday it was, but I knew my niece and I were kindred when she blew out her candle and told us she wished for gummies. Oh my God, that's hysterical. Donna's here. Donna bowling. Is that where you admit that you and Brian and Tim are finally dating? I don't know. You're going to have to tune in to find out. And yes, Christina says just a reminder this evening, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern is our weekly zoom call. So if you want to join, get it. Zach, have you seen the Starbucks with Adrian Grenier? Yes, I, well, I was gonna say, didn't we talk about it on the show yesterday? We kind of talked about Adrian addressing him not being in the New Devil Wars part of two, but we didn't specifically address the, um, oh, Donna's going to Palm Springs. Isn't that lovely for Donna? Can just be like, you know what, I'm taking a vacation on a Wednesday. I would love to just take a vacation on a Wednesday and be like, you know what, for the rest of the week, I'm not working anymore. I'm just going to kick my feet up and live my best life. So yeah, Donna, I guess Donna will no longer be giving you any more daily doses of Donna. She's going to deprive you of your, her daily doses of Donna because she just, she takes the days off. She takes a whole half of a week off. And some of us are like, I got dogs to feed. I got rent to pay. I got Botox to fund. I'm just kidding. Love you, Donna. But yeah, Donna's on her way to Palm Springs. Yay. Donna said, you can Zach, can I? No, I can't. I'm under contract. Okay. That said, what, what, oh, let's, should we talk about Blake? I praised to Sierra for the shade. Good for take Taylor, Frankie, Paul for getting her, her court win. But let's talk about Blake Lively's latest demands. I've been seeing the emails go around and not that there's anything bad or wrong with anything bad or wrong with the people's commentary of the emails, but it's just, I just wanted to provide some clarity. So there is an email going around from Blake Lively's team or I guess because there's, there are pre-trial hearings that are going to happen, I believe on Friday the 10th. Yeah, the sub coming Friday. So with that, everybody's preparing for trial, right? And so we're presuming that the Wayfarer parties are likely going to file motions in lemonade. And this is where the, the van Zahn is going to become a thing, right? This is where van Zahn is really going to become relevant because now it's possible that with the motions in lemonade, based off of all the attorneys predictions online, and even Daniel Faroozan, who's been on this show, even when he talked about motions in lemonade, which are pre-trial motions, it's possible that they can fight to get the, we can bury anyone text messages thrown out with the way that Blake Lively's legal team obtained the text messages through this seemingly sham van Zahn lawsuit and van Zahn subpoena that was placed upon Stephanie Jones. So it seems like they may fight and may be able to bring forth the van Zahn of it all. Because remember like, what about van Zahn? Everybody's like, oh my God, van Zahn, van Zahn, van Zahn. And so, for those of you that don't know or don't remember, van Zahn is, appears to be a shell camp company that is owned by Blake Lively and now Ryan Reynolds, because I believe, as of last year, they made Ryan Reynolds the CEO of van Zahn. And so, van Zahn, this company that really didn't seem to be doing very much, but was an incorporation under Blake Lively and now Ryan Reynolds, they had filed a contract dispute lawsuit, which is interesting because now if they're claiming that they're was a contract dispute, this actually starting to make sense because we were like, what contract dispute did Blake Lively have or did van Zahn, not even Blake Lively, what contract dispute did van Zahn have against some company, right? Some unknown, 10 unknown Jane, John and Doe. So there were 10 unnamed defendants that van Zahn was saying, there are 10 people that we think did something to us based off of this contract dispute, and we don't know what they actually did to us. So now it's interesting though, that the pieces of like Lively's lawsuit that are moving forward are the retaliation breach of contract and breach of implied covenant. The only part that gets a little more tricky is, because now we can define that there was a contract dispute with a third party, which presumably, but it's just weird that she filed it under the Jane and John Doe's rather than naming, it ends with this movie, naming Wayfair Studios, naming Justin Baldoni, Jamie Heath, Steve Sarowitz, whatever. She didn't name anybody in this lawsuit and her name was also not personally attached to this lawsuit. It was van Zahn versus these 10 random people that they claimed they didn't know where they worked. That's the only time you'd name a Jane or a John Doe in a lawsuit. And typically you at least have someone that's named and then the additional parties would be Jane or John Doe's, in this case, that wasn't it. She then asked Stephanie Jones to provide information in relation to sexual harassment that may have hurt Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and their companies. Stephanie Jones said, oh my God, I got subpoenaed. Sure. Here you go. Here are the troves of text messages that may or may not be mine, but here are the troves of text messages. Have at it. And so she just handed everything over and that's how all of this began. But it's interesting because we were always wondering what was the contract dispute. And now it appears that the contract dispute is in relation to her 17 point list that she put on the table halfway through production when she was demanding answers. So I don't know if that's going to stick, if it's not going to stick, because again, it was shady that she didn't name any defendants, especially in a contract dispute. So it's shady that she didn't name any defendants. There's also no agreement, but with Van Zand. Van Zand was never part of Wayfair. Van Zand was never part of it ends with us LLC. Van Zand was never part of the movie itself. So I don't know how Van Zand would necessarily fit into this if it wasn't a sham lawsuit, because then once they obtained the evidence, then they withdrew that lawsuit. And then that's when they filed the CRD complaint and launched the article in The New York Times. So shady, but at this point it may end up being like a strategic legal move that may be, because I've always said what's legally acceptable and what's morally acceptable are two very different things just because something appears unethical. It does not mean that it's illegal. So we'll have to see what happens with Van Zand, but I presume come Friday we'll have Van Zand re-enter the group chat with this trial that'll likely throw out the text messages. And if they throw out the text messages, that really guts a lot of their case because the information that they obtained from Stephanie Jones will no longer become relevant. So we'll see. And if that happens, then I don't know how she even moves forward to trial. I don't know. Is the court case going to be open to the public? Yes, it will be open to the public, but it will not be filmed or recorded or live streamed. That's like the big question is that people are thinking that they're going to be able to watch this trial. You will not be able to watch this trial, but there is a chance that you may be able to at least attend. But again, the line to get in press obviously has a first, like they have the opportunity to get in line first. So it's a whole thing. And I've looked into it and I've looked into the potential of me actually going, but no, it won't be televised. It won't be live streamed. It won't be any of that. There won't be cameras in the courtroom and only certain press will be able to keep their phones in the courtroom. Yeah, we shall see. We shall see. We shall see. Okay. Vance sand. This email that's going around from Gottlieb. So with Friday's upcoming hearings, Michelle says, could you imagine if it was televised those numbers for the ratings would be unreal. They use Vance and to illegally obtain private information. Van Zand is a smoking gun in my opinion. Your opinion. Yes. And a lot of our opinions, maybe, but there are certain. I mean, you have to remember Blake Lively and her legal team played this out very smart. That's when people say that her attorneys were dumb. I was like, actually, they weren't dumb. They were very, very smart. I think her attorneys gave her the best possible outcome that they could. I don't think that they were sloppy and I don't think they were dumb. I think they were given scraps and based off of the scraps they were given, they played the best possible chess hand that they could play. But when you have scraps and you don't have a strong foundation, it's not going to hold until the end. And that's what we're seeing is it's now all starting to crumble because the foundation of her case is not strong. There are termites in the wood and the foundation is starting to crumble. And so when you start with bad bones, the rest is only going to continue to fall no matter how high you get that house to be built. It will come tumbling down at some point without a strong foundation. So we shall see. That said, the email that's going around with Blake Lively's team, they're now pissed because they want the Wayfair parties to let them know if Jennifer Abel, Melissa Nathan, Jed Wallace, Steve Sarowitz, Jamie Heath, Justin Baldoni, they want to know if these people are actually going to be at trial, if they're going to be in court and if they will be on the stand. Right now, the reason that this has become a big question is because, well, this dismissal of Blake Lively's 10 claims dismissed all of these people individually. Well, Jed Wallace has not been part of this. His case got moved to Texas. But when it comes to Melissa, Jennifer, Sarowitz, Heath, Baldoni, with all of them, they're no longer personally defendants. Justin Baldoni is no longer a personal defendant in this case. He's just, he's done for the most personally. His companies, Wayfair and It Ends With Us LLC, they are still defendants in this. So right now, it's Blake Lively versus two companies, these two entities, rather than it being Blake Lively versus Justin Baldoni personally. So Gottlieb is pissed and he's like, well, we want to know, are they going to be there? We need to prepare. And remember, Gottlieb and Blake Lively's team, they're the same ones that dropped a thousand new exhibits that they want to be entered into trial and 40 witnesses, which is like, well, how long do you expect this case? And also, it's interesting because they're like, we don't think that any of that will be scaled back now that 10 of our claims have gotten gutted. And it's like, well, wait, but 10 of your claims got dismissed. You only have three claims left and you still need a thousand exhibits. You still need 40 witnesses to prove your case. Like you're playing games with the court right now. You're playing, you know, the PR game of trying to make it look like she has mountains of evidence, but also you're just screwing with the Wayfair parties just to screw with them. And if you had strong mountains of insurmountable evidence, you wouldn't need to be playing these games, but all Blake Lively has done since the beginning of this is play these games and then get upset when the Wayfair parties play any games. But I would imagine they're trying to figure out what their next move is going to be because none of the defendants actually have to appear in trial anymore. And so I saw some of the Blake bots being like, wow, look at none of them are even going and they're being shady and they may not even attend trial after all. Like, how is it that you wanted to tell your truth and you wanted to tell about how you didn't do this Blake Lively and now all of a sudden it's a consideration that they may not show up. I don't think that it. Yes, it is a possibility, but I don't think it's a real consideration. I absolutely believe Justin Baldoni will be in that courtroom. I absolutely believe Jamie Heath will be in that courtroom. I absolutely believe Steve Sarowitz will be in that courtroom. And it's pretty likely that Jennifer Abel will be in that courtroom because let's not forget Jennifer Abel also has her own litigation against Stephanie Jones. That's ongoing. So with them, it's going to get interesting. So the two that I predict likely may not be at trial would be Melissa Nathan and Jed Wallace. Jed Wallace, I just don't think needs to be there. He's not like he has no real attachment. And so for the people that don't appear at trial and on the witness stand, their depositions will be used in at trial. So because they all sat and were deposed for hours on end, so they've already answered a lot of these questions anyway. So it's possible that pieces of those depositions will be shared for the jury come trial. They don't need to necessarily be on the stand and Blake Lively can't necessarily subpoena them and force them to come to the courthouse because I believe there are restrictions with not jurisdiction. What's the term that I'm thinking of? Because Melissa Nathan lives in California and Jed Wallace lives in Dallas or in Texas. Sorry, it's they don't have to travel in, right? Even if Blake Lively subpoena them, they don't have to personally appear. They have the option not to. And so being that they're not defendants, they have that option to not go in. But I do think Justin Baldoni will take the stand and I do think Jamie Heath will take the stand. It's possible that they put up Jennifer Abel because I just I find her to be very likable and charismatic that I think she may play well for the jury. Justin Baldoni, I think will play well for the jury and Jamie Heath will obviously be the representative of Wayfair Studios. It ends with us LLC. But even with him, that that was the strongest case Blake Lively had with sexual harassment was against Jamie Heath. But even then it was there was no concrete evidence like he came into my hotel room and he looked me in the eye and he's like, I don't remember looking her in the eye and like I wasn't checking her out. And so again, that's a he said she said sort of situation and that's really what it comes down to with the retaliation is she's claiming that that their behavior was retaliatory and it was a smear campaign. They're claiming that it wasn't. It was just, you know, defensive crisis PR. And so now a jury is going to have to look at all the evidence and going to have to listen to each of their expert testimony and determine who the jury believes is telling the truth. Do they believe that Blake Lively is telling the truth or do they believe that the Wayfair parties are more credible and they are telling the truth. They'll have to look at the evidence, weigh the testimony and make a determination. And that's why the judge didn't rule on retaliation, not that retaliation exists or doesn't exist in this case. It's that retaliation in this case has yet to be defined, right? This has become a matter of fact. What is retaliation and did retaliation take place? And so in this case, the judge is like, listen, there's enough information to be presented to a jury like Lively has information to present to them. And so she can try and make her case in front of them, but the Wayfair parties also have evidence and I, it's two sides. It's a, he said, she said, or even not even he said, because there's no he left in it. It's two companies, right? It ends with us LLC and Wayfair studios. So it's they said, she said. So she against these companies. So it's going to get interesting, but the Wayfair parties made it clear in their response to Lively's attorneys that they don't plan on waiting until the last minute to have some gotcha moment. They're playing by the rules of the court. As of right now, they're re strategizing because obviously when 10 of the claims get gutted, that changes everything. They no longer have to defend against toxic workplace. They no longer have to defend against sexual harassment. Sexual harassment at this point has kind of become my new. It's completely out the door, right? So all we have left is this retaliation breach of contract and breach of implied covenant. And we'll see what happens. I mean, she could possibly, if the jury does determine that there was some form of retaliation against her again, that has to be defined in court. And the jury will have to determine what that means. But it's possible that she does get a win in this, but it wouldn't be the big rah rah victory that she was hoping for. It would be of like, oh, well, you had the 17 point list and they did some things that you didn't like. And so therefore that there was a breach of implied covenant, right? There was an implied good faith that everybody was going to keep their hands clean and be good to each other. It's possible that she does win on breach of implied covenant. And knowing Blake Lively and from what we've seen, she'll be like, look at I won. They breached this. They violated an agreement that we made that people in the workplace are not supposed to, you know, yada yada, take advantage of you or whatever her narrative is going to be. She'll find a way to spin it. But it's going to be interesting. Flowers in the basement says a loss is a win for Blake and her PR. Yeah, I mean, everything is going to be a win for them. We've seen that we've seen her spin everything so many different ways. The fact that she had her case completely obliterated and was still like, thank you to the courts for keeping the heart of my case alive. And it's like, what? The heart of your case is retaliation. You're an idiot. Zach, if the consequences for Blake were prison following losing a jury trial, do you think she would continue this and not settle instead? If the consequences were a prison, were prison following a jury? Well, I mean, none of this is criminal. It's all civil. So prison isn't even a consideration. But if the consequences were prison, do you think that she would continue with this and not settle instead? No, I think she would keep fighting it. I don't know. It's hard to weigh money versus prison time. It's kind of hard to weigh those two. I don't know what she would do in that situation. But that's not a real... It's hard to apply those things because they're so polar opposite, right? A civil case and a criminal case, prison time versus money. Fatima says the van Zand is criminal to me. Yeah, but then that would have to be like the DA that brings charges against her. And it's very unlikely that that will happen. She's not going to face consequences for that other than potentially losing this trial. Gwen says, I just love how it's in Wayfair's hands if they want to settle since she can't bail out. Now, she can still bail. She can still settle. She can settle at any point. They can settle halfway through trial if they want to. And listen, settling is not necessarily a bad thing for the Wayfair parties because a settlement means they don't have the risk of losing in trial. But also, the real win that the Wayfair parties would have wanted was to be able to have a jury determined that there was no sexual harassment. Because now you have all the Blakebots that are spinning this like, oh, it was a technicality. Oh, it was because she was a contractor, not an employee. Like all of these things that they're trying to twist themselves into pretzels to, you know, to get done here. But like, I don't know. They both both have to agree to a settlement, right? Yes, they both would have to agree to a settlement. And I don't think either of them will agree to a settlement. Reprimanda says, so many people settle these days. The only thing I assume is that Blake's ego combined with Ryan's would never allow them to. I feel like it's stooping. Yeah. Yeah, it is. I don't think I think it's all a battle of the ego. And there's too much ego. Gwen says, yeah, but they have the upper hand now on settling that most of the charges, especially the SH. I disagreed. I don't think they have the upper hand. They have the upper hand in terms of what I believe from the evidence. But again, these are all matters of our opinion, right? But at trial, it's a matter of the majority of the jurors. Like they have to make a determination. Now, the upper hand for the WAFE air parties would be that Blake Lively is the one that brought forth this lawsuit. So the burden of proof is on her. She has to be able to prove that she reported these things and that this retaliation took place and that they retaliated against her because of her raising concerns on the set of evidence with us. That's her case to prove she has to actually convince the jury of that. So technically, sure. But also, it could really go either way. You don't know what's going to happen at trial. And so anything can happen. It's, I would say a 50 50 chance. Again, we're just going based off of our opinion. But if we were one person sitting on the jury, we're only one voice on that jury. We need the entire jury or at least the majority of people on that jury to rule in favor of Justin Baldoni versus Blake Lively based off of the evidence that gets presented and how each party presents that evidence, right? Because even if the evidence is there, if the other side does a better job of making the argument, they can sway and convince the jury that, you know, they're the ones that are in the right because again, it's coming down to a he said she said and the evidence kind of supports both to an extent. So it depends on how you skew the evidence and how you present it to the jury. And the jury has to then make an objective decision on which side they believe to be more credible which side they think is more likely telling the truth. Jen says, can she suddenly drop the case since she brought it she can settle but I don't believe she can drop it. I don't think she can withdraw the case like it's too far gone. The only option they have is to settle or battle. What's the topic tonight? Oh, good question. We're going to have to figure that out. Do you think their marriage will survive? No, Glenn, I don't think their marriage will survive. Susan says, representation is everything. Yes, representation is everything. I'm assuming you mean legal representation. So it's their attorneys and how their attorneys spin this and play this. And we don't know how the attorneys are going to spin this. We don't know how the attorneys are going to play this. Brian Friedman also not much of a trial attorney, right? Like his specialty is in buckling the opponent into settling. So he does a really good job from what we've seen in terms of, you know, being clear in how he explains things and being, you know, charismatic in the sense that he knows how to win people over. And he's very much, he's got an authoritative presence. But again, we just don't know. It all depends on what evidence will be allowed. What evidence will be allowed and how it gets presented. You know, that's a really good, you know, a really good indicator is like how the evidence gets presented. Because if you have the same evidence, but somebody can make a more convincing argument as to why that evidence defends their side versus the other side, the jury has to go with who they find more credible. Yes, guys, hit the like button if you're enjoying this hit the like button if you're ready for trial. Christina says not actually golden and little girl attorney said that she can't and I trust what they say that she can't just withdraw the case. I believe is what you're responding to. Yes, they cannot just she cannot just withdraw the case. She would have to settle in an order for a settlement to be possible. Both parties would have to agree to a settlement. Fatima Ben says I seriously hope we wayfare parties win this Blake can't say this or that because the judge dismissed most of it and then the jury that don't believe her. How would she spend that that the laws against women that we need to fix the laws we need to change to make sure we're protecting women in the work by the law. She'll still go down without a fight. She'll still go down as if she didn't lose. Or if she did lose, she was she would be a victim. Heather says Zach, I think you should be a crime detective. You're so smart where the glasses on the glasses are outside. They're my blue light blockers. Who is going to want to marry or date Ryan Reynolds after he divorces Blake? I mean, listen, people, you know, want to marry Ted Bundy. So I think it'll be fine. Brian is a good storyteller. Yes, he is. But you also have to remember Brian Friedman has a really strong presence, right? So if Blake lively goes on stand and Brian Friedman kind of lays into her and the team, her team also presents the theory that even the wayfare parties attorney has been prejudiced towards Blake. And then Brian Friedman goes and deposes Blake lively and he's a little too hard on her or she's able to convince the jury that she's like kind of weak and meek. Then it looks like he's badgering the witness, right? Like it's all about how it plays out. Like that's why again, the evidence and the truth can be on one side. But again, the courtroom is not about the evidence or the truth. The courtroom is about the case that you're able to present. It's not about who's telling the truth. It's about who tells the better story. It's about who tells the most convincing story. So yeah. ISIS says the lawyers in popcorn plants and Blake lively can dismiss without a settlement and would be fined by the court, maybe four million. Oh, let's ask chat. Can Blake lively withdraw her lawsuit before trial? Let's see. Yes. Oh, yes. Blake lively absolutely can withdraw her lawsuit before trial, but there are some important legal nuances. One, she can voluntarily dismiss the case in the U.S. Civil litigation. The plaintiff can usually file a voluntary dismissal before trial. She can ask the courts to dismiss her own case depending on timing. She may need either no permission if it's in the early stages, which it's not, or the court's approval or the defendant's consent, which is the later stage. So right now she would need the court's approval and she would need the way for parties to consent to that as well. There's with prejudice or without prejudice. Without prejudice means she could refile the case later with prejudice means the case is permanently over. I would imagine we want the trial to end favorably to the Baldoni parties or to the Wayfair parties with prejudice. We've already seen her do a version of this. She previously withdrew some individual claims during the case to streamline things. Yes. Remember, she, oh, that's right. Remember, she took out some of her claims and then the judge dismissed a ton of her claims. And so her case has really been narrowed down to the bones. Settlement is the more common path at this stage right before a scheduled trial. It's more typical to settle rather than to just walk away. Courts often push both sides towards settlement conferences before trial. We've seen that. They failed to do that or they failed to successfully settle. There's the strategic reality in her specific case. Right now only three claims are left heading to trial. She is publicly indicated that she's prepared to testify and move forward. So while she can withdraw entirely doing so might raise public perception questions and could impact the leverage that she has, especially being so late in the game. Bottom line is yes, she can withdraw the lawsuit before trial, but at this stage it would likely require court approval or a negotiated settlement and strategically most cases resolved through settlement rather than a full withdrawal. Yes, I agree. And she would probably want a settlement rather than a withdrawal and court approved withdrawal because a settlement I would imagine would come with a gag order where they both, you know, wouldn't be allowed to talk about specific details of the settlement. Neither one would be able to disparage anybody after the settlement or talk about the details. So yeah. Raise your hand if you've ever felt personally victimized by Regina George. I mean Blake Lively. Yes, Todd. Yes, Todd. Do we know how they choose the jury? I'm not sure how that works. I believe, I mean based off of me doing jury duty, they bring everybody there. They ask questions. Will they first dismiss certain jurors, then they ask questions and then I believe there's a certain amount of dismissals that each party has. And so they continue to dismiss people that they think may be prejudiced against them to try and find people that they both agree would be good options for them to keep in the trial, in the jury trial. So I believe they interview and they question the jurors to see who each party would like to keep. But they only have a certain number. Lynn says, are you going to New York for trial, Zach? It's looking promising. I don't know. I should have an update on that probably next week. So yeah. She had me lose several hours of sleep and my time with my cat. I have no doubt. Okay. Will Ryan bother showing up at trial? What if Brian Friedman should ask Gottlieb? Good question. I believe he will be Kenzie. I believe Ryan, I mean he should be. But then again, we didn't see him issue any statement after her claims were dismissed. We didn't see him comment on her statement after she issued it and published it on her Instagram feed. There was no so proud of you. There was no heart emoji. There was no, you're fighting the good fight. I'm here for you, babe. I love you no matter what. There was no comment, no acknowledgement. Did he even like it? I don't know if he even liked her post. Let's see. Let's see. Some Chloe person, Sophie, Luca, Shop Archive. We love and support you. Terry. Ryan's dad commented said really, really well said it seems so unreal, but unfortunately it was all too real. We know it all too well. Oh, Hotmikes with Billy Bush liked her post. No, Ryan Reynolds didn't like it. Didn't repost it. Didn't reshare it. He also didn't show up with her at the courthouse. So yeah. Yeah. What a time. Yeah. Okay. This is a good point, Kenzie. This is what I was thinking of. And I brought this up with Dona and Molly yesterday. I'm going to call them Dolly collectively about how, remember when his text messages came out and he's like, well, yes, I was a husband that was defending his wife. I'm not, I haven't, I wasn't mad enough in those text messages where he's, you know, talking all this smack about Baldoni. And he says he wasn't mad enough. Where's that outrage now? Where's all that emotion and passion now for your wife? You didn't show up with her at the courthouse in January. You, I, like, I'm confused. Where if, if you should have been more mad on the set, why aren't you more mad now? So we'll see. But he didn't address anything about her losing in court. So I wonder if that's signs, like a sign of a bad, a bad, bad, I don't know. Ryan's dad is deceased. Oh, is he deceased? So maybe this is his brother. He does have a few brothers, doesn't he? This may be his brother that commented on Blake Lively's Terry. He just looks like an older man. Oh, I guess this is, I guess this is the brother. Oh yeah. Happy birthday, Ryan, to a great friend, kind person and a good citizen. I thought I'd share a fond memory, our 2025 flight to Dublin. My first digital camera caught my first photo bomb. If you're out there somewhere, kind sir, thank you. That made our day. I guess he and Ryan were taking a photo on a flight back in 2005 and there was a random guy in the background that smiled. He photo bombed. Okay, so this is, this is Ryan's brother that commented on Blake's post. We know it all, it was all too real. Whatever. His silence is deafening. That it is. I got jury duty questionnaire for the New York County, but if it's for this case, I won't get picked. I cannot lie. I would love to be on this jury. I would love to be on this jury because I would just, I feel like, I don't know, I'd love to. I mean, we're all this jury. We are the jury at the court of public opinion. I suspect that both parties will keep Taylor Swift out of court. Yeah, I would imagine. I don't see how Taylor would be relevant. Like even though Billy Bush was like, is Brandon Sklenar and Isabella Ferrer and Jenny Slater, they're going to be in court. What are they going to say? And I was like, actually, I don't think they will be in court. I don't think there's a need for any of them to be in court. Maybe at best, Jenny Slate. I think she may be the most relevant to bring in because Blake at least did express concerns on the set based off of her text messages with Jenny Slate. But outside of that, I don't think there's any, like Isabella would be completely irrelevant to the retaliation and contract dispute. Isabella wasn't there for the all hands deck. Neither was Brandon Sklenar. Neither was Jenny. They weren't there for that meeting. That meeting is where the 17 point list was presented. So I'm assuming everybody that was at that meeting would likely be pulled into this. And then it's going to come down to the reputational harm and, you know, all of this stuff. So I don't think that there's any opportunity for them to be relevant at trial because I don't think, I mean, they could testify to onset behavior, but this isn't about onset behavior. Toxic workplace has been thrown out. Sexual harassment has been thrown out. So I don't think they have a strong leg to stand on in terms of holding some sort of credibility when it comes to speaking about retaliation or contract dispute that they weren't really present for. So yeah. And if anything, they've, they've already been subpoenaed or not subpoenaed. They've been deposed. Jenny Slate was deposed. Isabella was deposed. So I don't think Brandon Sklenar got deposed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Brandon was deposed by right. Brandon Sklenar deposed. I don't remember seeing his deposition. I don't think he was, but I don't think, yeah, there's no court confirmed record that Brandon Sklenar was deposed. Correct. Lots of people like lively was deposed. Justin Beltano was deposed. Does not appear. Brandon Sklenar was ever deposed. But his text messages were dragged in. Okay. All right. That's what I got for you. Tomorrow is Thursday, April 9th, and then Friday is the hearing. So lots going on. Lots going on. All right, guys, I love you. I appreciate you. You have a great rest of your day. I will talk to you this evening. Let's talk to you this evening. We're going to chat live on zoom. If you're a member of No Filter All Access, there's a bonus episode out now. Q&A. I answer all your questions. So check out the Q&A episode. Join us for tonight's zoom call and I will talk to you later. Bye. Love you. Appreciate you. Have a good day. Leave an Apple podcast for me so I can give you guys shout outs come Friday. All right. Ciao for now, guys. Bye.