Justin Baldoni Accused of Script Theft: Lawyer Once Represented Writer in ‘Five Feet Apart’ Lawsuit

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While filming ‘It Ends With Us,’ Blake Lively accused Justin Baldoni of harassment, body shaming, creating uncomfortable romantic scenes, and damaging her public image. After a period of silence following the film’s release, Lively filed a legal complaint, which escalated into a federal lawsuit.

Justin Baldoni responded by filing his own lawsuit against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, The Times, and others associated with the case. Baldoni’s lawsuit, filed in New York federal court, includes claims of extortion, defamation, breach of contract, and more, seeking $400 million in damages.

This is the story so far if you’ve missed it, which I hardly doubt. Baldoni released “evidence” that harassment never took place, while Lively’s legal team used the opportunity to claim that his evidence actually supports their claims, but you can read about this separate issue here.

Now some details are leaking to the public regarding Baldoni’s history in Hollywood, and it’s not as squeaky clean as you would assume.

Justin Baldoni’s current lawyer, Bryan Freedman, once represented someone who accused Baldoni of stealing a script. In 2021, screenwriter Travis Flores claimed Baldoni used his script, ‘Three Feet Distance’—inspired by Flores’ life with cystic fibrosis—to create the movie ‘Five Feet Apart.’

Flores said Baldoni read his script, which had been in development at a Universal-affiliated company, before working on a similar story through his own production company, Wayfarer Entertainment. The lawsuit alleged that Baldoni’s film idea was taken from Flores’ personal story.

According to the lawsuit, in 2016, Justin Baldoni invited Travis Flores to appear in his docuseries ‘My Last Days,’ which shared the stories of young people with terminal illnesses. Flores, who passed away in 2024 at age 33, participated in the documentary. In the lawsuit, Flores claimed ‘Five Feet Apart’ shared not only its title and overarching plot with his script but also specific details, like protagonists with dead sisters and the theme of “living in the here and now.”

The 2021 lawsuit claimed that “the similarities between the two works extend far beyond the limited examples referenced above,” noting details as small as “the wardrobe choice of showing the main character for the first time wearing a v-neck t-shirt” and others “more significant to the overall development of the works.” Justin Baldoni has not publicly addressed the accusations, and the case was dismissed in 2022 after Freedman filed a motion to dismiss. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the lawsuit was settled.

Freedman, now representing Baldoni in his legal battle with Blake Lively, explained his approach during a Jan. 7 interview: “It’s all gonna be based on evidence. It’s not gonna be just a lawsuit. It’s going to be the kind of lawsuit that is full of evidence, admissions [and] documents.

Baldoni’s legal team vowed to create a website where all evidence including private messages would be available to the public.

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