Reply to Blake Lively- Jason Baldoni and NYT

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DP.  So, wait, the Baldoni supporters don’t think any discovery will be allowed on whether Jed Wallace has astroturfed in the past, besides on Lively’s case?  No dep questions because “it isn’t relevant at all for these claims”?  I’m not sure they’ll get a bunch of RFPs about it like the other PP was suggesting but I think saying it isn’t relevant at all is wishful thinking. Another DP above explained more carefully how and why Wallace’s astroturfing info from other cases could come in.[/quote]

It’s pretty basic in the law of evidence that you don’t get to introduce evidence of a party’s past acts or “character” unless it has been put into play by the party himself or some other narrow exceptions. [/quote]

I don’t think Lively is going to get this discovery. But admissibility is not the standard for discovery. Discovery is broader. 
[/quote]

lol no not that broad. You don’t get to do discovery for inadmissible evidence. [/quote]

You actually can get discovery that is questionable on admissibility. Judges are not making determinations on admissibility during fact discovery/motions to compel.

I don’t think Lively is getting the PP’s fishing expedition, but the judges is looking at relevance, burden, etc not admissibility.[/quote]

The past tactics he uses would not be a fishing expedition. The way some users are saying it has zero relevance is actually incredibly suspicious. [/quote]

yes it would be. The 2nd Circuit is pretty clear on this.

“Au fond, a fishing expedition is indeed permissible and legitimate when the information sought pertains to the subject matter of the case and seems reasonably calculated that discovery would lead to permissible evidence as to claims or defenses. Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351 (1978). Although this requirement “has been construed broadly,” the information sought must be relevant to an actual claim or defense. Id. at 351-54 (denying  discovery of the list of potential plaintiffs in a class action suit because the evidence was not reasonably calculated to be admissible to support any raised claim or defense).”

https://casetext.com/case/walsh-v-top-notch-home-designs-corp

they can ask Wallace what he did with respect to *Lively* in the engagement he had with Baldoni’s PR firm. Asking him all about his other clients is irrelevant and an obvious fishing expedition to get damaging/embarassing but inadmissible evidence. 
[/quote]

The argument for seeking discovery on other clients is to show that Nathan and Abel (and potentially Baldoni) *knew* that Wallace does the kind of astroturfing Lively is accusing him of doing here.

The theory of the case, which Lively's lawyers could lay out in a motion to compel, would be that Nathan and Abel famously worked for Johnny Depp during his trial against Amber Heard, where there is extensive evidence of astroturfing. Baldoni must have been aware of this work when he hired them because it is the single most high profile celebrity conflict of the last few years. If Wallace provided astroturfing services to Nathan and Abel in the Depp case, and if Baldoni was aware they had done so and hired them in part because they had this capability via Wallace, this would be directly relevant to the issue of whether Baldoni was hiring this team for his own beneficial PR or to smear Lively online.

I'm not saying this is what happened -- I have no idea. I'm saying that this is a sound argument for a judge to grant Lively's lawyers some leeway during discovery to find evidence that would prove the above theory. That's the entire point of discovery -- to get the evidence so the parties know whether they have a case at all, or what arguments they can or want to make at trial. I especially think that if the motions to compel are very carefully written to request discovery related only to Wallace's prior work for Nathan and Abel clients (especially communications between Wallace and Nathan/Abel about the nature of his work) and limited perhaps to a relatively narrow time period or even limited only to the Depp/Heard case as that is what Baldoni and his team were most likely to be aware prior to engaging the team, the judge would be willing to grant it.[/quote]

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