{"id":145591,"date":"2025-01-23T00:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T00:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/23\/why-justin-baldonis-lawyer-previously-sued-him-over-five-feet-apart\/"},"modified":"2025-01-23T00:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T00:14:25","slug":"why-justin-baldonis-lawyer-previously-sued-him-over-five-feet-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/23\/why-justin-baldonis-lawyer-previously-sued-him-over-five-feet-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Justin Baldoni\u2019s Lawyer Previously Sued Him Over Five Feet Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n Justin Baldoni.<\/span> Darla Khazei\/INSTARimages<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before representing Justin Baldoni<\/a><\/strong> in his ongoing legal battle<\/a> with Blake Lively<\/a><\/strong>, attorney Bryan Freedman<\/strong> found himself involved in a separate case involving the actor.<\/p>\n

According to newly surfaced court documents viewed by Us Weekly<\/i>, Freedman previously represented a person with cystic fibrosis who sued Baldoni, 40, for alleged copyright infringement and breach of contract.<\/p>\n

Freedman\u2019s client, Travis Flores<\/strong>, sued Baldoni and other defendants in September 2021 claiming the actor\u2019s 2019 directorial debut, Five Feet Apart<\/i>, ripped off Flores\u2019 own tear-jerking romance script titled Three Feet Distance<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlores kept his screenplay from Baldoni both because Flores had a policy of keeping his work confidential and because Baldoni was working on the feature film project that Flores viewed as competitive,\u201d court documents stated. \u201cUnbeknownst to Flores, however, Baldoni already had a different source to provide him with information about Three Feet Distance<\/i>. As it turned out, Baldoni\u2019s film \u2014 which became titled Five Feet Apart<\/i> \u2014 would copy numerous elements of Three Feet Distance<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s Reported ‘It Ends With Us’ Drama Explained<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tUPDATE 1\/16\/25 at 12:43 p.m. ET: Justin Baldoni\u2019s Wayfarer Studios filed a $400 million lawsuit against It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, on Thursday, January 16. In the 179-page filing obtained by Us Weekly, Baldoni claimed that Lively was \u201cdetermined\u201d to make him a \u201creal-life villain in her story.\u201d [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In March 2022, Bloomberg Law<\/a> reported that a copyright infringement lawsuit over Five Feet Apart <\/i>was dismissed by a federal court in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Us Weekly <\/i>has reached out to Freedman for comment.<\/p>\n

Five Feet Apart<\/i>, starring Haley Lu Richardson<\/strong> and Cole Sprouse<\/strong>, explores a love story and the real pain and struggle of cystic fibrosis.<\/p>\n

The 2019 film, which reportedly<\/a> earned $92 million on a $7 million budget, was dedicated<\/a> to YouTuber Claire Wineland<\/strong>, another individual with cystic fibrosis who left Baldoni inspired.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI hired her as a consultant and she unfortunately passed away just before I could show her my director\u2019s cut,\u201d Baldoni told The Hollywood Reporter<\/i><\/a> in 2019. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019m still dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than five years after Five Feet Apart<\/i> was released, Baldoni now finds himself in another legal situation<\/a> with one of his It Ends With Us<\/i> costars.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, the New York Times<\/i> broke the news that Lively sued Baldoni<\/a> for sexual harassment and for allegedly launching a \u201csocial manipulation\u201d campaign against her to \u201cdestroy\u201d her reputation.<\/p>\n

Baldoni has denied the allegations<\/a> via Freedman, who called Lively\u2019s accusations \u201ccompletely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious\u201d in a statement to Us <\/i>last month.<\/p>\n

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