The It Ends With Us war has led to fresh fallout. Bryan Freedman — Justin Baldoni’s high-profile attorney in his no-holds-barred litigation fight against Blake Lively — is now facing a civil suit as well as a state bar complaint over the lawyer’s handling of an interconnected Baldoni legal matter, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
In a 2021 case against both Baldoni as well as his production company Wayfarer Entertainment that’s since been settled, Freedman represented Tyler Flores, a man with cystic fibrosis who alleged that the star’s directorial debut Five Feet Apart was a rip-off of his then-client’s own script Three Feet Distance. Both projects were romances about a couple living with the progressive genetic disease. (Flores, who died in May 2024 from complications of cystic fibrosis, had years earlier appeared on the Baldoni-produced and -hosted docuseries My Last Days, about people with terminal illnesses.)
“Over the years, I have learned what great people Justin and Wayfarer are,” Freedman explained in a statement justifying his decision to subsequently represent Baldoni. “The [Flores] case was resolved without any determination of liability on Justin’s or Wayfarer or any other defendant’s part. Since then, it has been further confirmed to me that Justin and Wayfarer are exceedingly honorable and highly ethical.”
Flores’ husband Clement Souyri, as the administrator of his partner’s estate, filed a formal complaint in July with the California State Bar’s Office of Trial Counsel in protest of Freedman’s conduct. And on Wednesday, he filed a lawsuit in California state court.
The suit, filed on Oct. 8, alleges legal malpractice, invasion of privacy and defamation. It accuses Freedman of having inappropriately “traded up” from “seriously ill client” Flores to “healthier client” Baldoni. Then later, after Flores had died, the litigation accuses Freedman of publicly defending himself by betraying attorney-client confidences and misrepresenting the merits of Flores’ own case in the media. (In federal court, where the parties’ copyright litigation was waged, attorney-client privilege survives a client’s death.)
Freedman did not immediately return a request for comment.
In June, a federal judge tossed out Baldoni’s Freedman-filed $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively, her publicist and The New York Times, which detailed the actress’ claims. Freedman, who’s long cultivated a cartoonish reputation for aggressiveness — comparing himself to a pit bull, telling THR that “if you fuck with my client, you get what you get” — was called out in an unrelated June court filing for allegedly attempting to intimidate another lawyer. A dispute over his client Vin Diesel’s deposition led to him allegedly cursing out, lunging at and throwing a mock punch against opposing counsel. TKTK FREEDMAN RESPONSE
Freedman in recent years has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most prominent litigators. This past summer he was involved in the multi-billion-dollar contract negotiations between Paramount and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Freedman became a lawyer after settling a sexual assault case for $40,000, without admitting liability. In 2024, THR asked the California State Bar whether he notified the organization of this legal history when he sought to join. “Moral character reviews are confidential,” the state bar explained, adding: “While we are unable to comment on standards that existed in 1991, speaking generally, we can say that today, serious allegations, including those involving sexual assault, would be given serious and appropriate consideration in the moral character review process.”
