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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Eleven days after Blake Lively filed her complaint with the state alleging a difficult work environment on the set of "It Ends With Us," Justin Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs Tuesday filed a defamation suit against The New York Times.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges that the paper took communications out of context in order to mislead readers with the Dec. 21 story headlined, "We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.".
The paper asked for the plaintiffs' replies to a story about their alleged orchestration of a smear campaign targeting 37-year-old Blake Lively in response to Lively's claims of a difficult working environment on the set of the popular film "It Ends With Us," then rushed to publish the story two hours early, the suit alleges. Baldoni, 40, directed the film and co-starred with Lively.
"Given the breadth of the article and the coordinated drop, it is readily apparent that The Times had been quietly working in concert with Lively's team for weeks or months," the suit states.
"This brazen disregard for journalistic integrity and fairness resulted in an article rife with inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and omissions," the suit states.
The suit also alleges that the reason Lively filed her Dec. 20 complaint with the state Civil Rights Department rather than in the courts was to spare herself from "the scrutiny of the discovery process, including answering questions under oath and producing her communications."
Lively's administrative complaint is "rife with blatant falsehoods and egregious misrepresentations that would have subjected her to dismissal if not sanction," the suit alleges.
A New York Times representative told Variety that the role of an independent news organization is "to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported."
The suit seeks at least $250 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages. The suit also alleges invasion of privacy, fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract. Other plaintiffs include "It Ends With Us" producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz. Lively is not a defendant.