Blake Lively allegedly obtains Justin Baldoni's PR team's text messages that show smear campaign against actress through "legal subpoena"

Blake Lively's legal team has reportedly obtained text messages from Justin Baldoni's PR team that stand as the alleged evidence of the smear campaign against her. Per Daily Mail, the fact that the messages were allegedly obtained in the absence of a lawsuit has made legal experts curious.

The attorneys of the Gossip Girl actress have said in a statement that more details about "Ms. Lively's investigation, including the lawful subpoena, will be produced during discovery."

The text messages were revealed as part of Blake's legal complaint revealed earlier this month, in which she accused Baldoni of s*xual harassment and fostering a toxic work environment on the sets of their latest release, It Ends With Us. Baldoni has denied all the accusations made by the Savages actress.

Baldoni, his company - Wayfarer Studios, and his PR experts - Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, are all facing another lawsuit by Abel's former boss. Stephanie Jones, who heads Jonesworks PR, has allegedly accused them of defamation and breach of contract.

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Blake Lively's legal team has accused Baldoni of being involved in a smear campaign

The text messages revealed in Blake Lively's legal complaint "demonstrate a multi-tiered plan that Mr. Baldoni and his team described as 'social manipulation' designed to 'destroy' Ms. Lively's reputation," Blake's legal team claims.

While Lively is yet to file a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, the state civil rights complaint she filed earlier in December is suspected to be a "precursor to a lawsuit."

Per Daily Mail, some legal experts suggest that the subpoena cited by Blake Lively's team could be a so-called "friendly subpoena." It refers to an instance where one party seeks records from another but allows them to say they were forced to comply under court orders, even if the latter might want to volunteer the information.

James Spertus - a formal federal prosecutor and West LA litigator told the LA Times on Sunday that the subpoena was "most likely" issued in another case and "then used in this one."

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Both Lively's complaint and Jones' lawsuit mention the text messages

Despite the details of the origin story behind the text messages, they've been released by both Lively as well as Stephanie Jones, the LA Times reports.

The lawsuit document obtained by Daily Mail claims that Jennifer Abel represented Justin Baldoni while working for Joneswork but was fired last summer after she was discovered "stealing document and client information" from the firm in an attempt to start a rival company.

Jones has accused both Nathan and Abel in her lawsuit, of stealing Baldoni and Wayfarer as clients from Jonesworks, and of smearing Jones and Jonesworks in the press. Per Stephanie, the group was allegedly prepared to blame Jones for the alleged PR takedown of Blake Lively.

"For months, this group has gaslit and disparaged Stephanie Jones and her company for financial gain, to settle personal scores and most recently to distract from their disgraceful smearing of Blake Lively."

The document also reads:

"This lawsuit is a necessary step to stop defendants’ continuing misconduct and for Steph to recover the reputation she has worked decades to establish and which the defendants disparaged for their own nefarious purposes."

Jones' lawsuit also concludes that the publicist had no knowledge of or involvement in Baldoni's alleged smear campaign against Lively.

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Blake's legal complaint against Justin Baldoni also alleges the latter's unwelcome behavior towards her on the sets of It Ends With Us. It includes claims that Baldoni showed Lively an explicit video of his wife, openly discussed his alleged p*rn addiction, and barged into Lively's trailer while she was nude or breastfeeding.