Lively v. Baldoni 28 - Wayfarer's (Copied and Pasted) Countercomplaint

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors — the audio is the record.

0:00:01 Clip: All rise. Court is now in session. Court is reconvened. You may be seated. Maintain order. The federal rise has faced the jury and is arcing to its verdicts.

0:00:25 Thomas: Good gavels to you. It's gavel, gavel. I'm Thomas. That over there is Lydia. How are you doing?

0:00:28 Lydia: And a good gavel to you, sir. Yeah. I think that is kind of working for me.

0:00:32 Thomas: Thank you. And gavel also unto you. Oh, wow. Okay.

0:00:39 Lydia: I don't hate it. I don' t hate it either.

0:00:41 Thomas: Gavel to you, Gavel. What was it? I already forget it.

0:00:43 Lydia: I don't remember either.

0:00:44 Thomas: Darn it. If only it was recorded. Good gaVEL to you! I think that's right. Good Gavels, everyone! And then we do the thing where we're in a crowd and we're like, I can't hear you!

0:00:55 Thomas: And everyone's like, oh, good gavel! Today we are going to be going through wayfarer's counter complaint against jones and jones works and we'll see what they're gonna do I don't know I mean I feel like in my opinion Jones and Jones Works' case against Wayfarer is perhaps like less open and shut on certain components uh when it comes to the tortious interference and that kind of thing I think we've already talked about this with mj and we probably will again but proving the tortious interference and you do have to prove like they knew about the details and nature of of Jen Abel's contract and that kind of thing. Yeah, the interference thing. So that could be trickier. However, I don't know how tricky it will be to prove

0:01:27 Lydia: The restrictions and covenants of everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

0:01:33 Thomas: The breach because they seem pretty breachy, seem very breachy. So we're going to go through that counter complaint. Shouldn't be too long. I'm hoping it's famous last words, but I think we should be able to move through this pretty quickly because a lot of it's copy paste and, you know, there weren't as many causes of action, I Don't think to deal with. So after this break, which you can avoid at patreon.com/gavel-pod and get a good gavel to the there an official good gavel to you t -shirt that's not there yet here's a problem with that idea I love it but if merch ever happens here you have to do all merch for every show we've ever done because it's like the whole the merch thing there's no money in merch it's just like do work for break even which I don't know if you've heard but we don't have any

0:01:59 Lydia: Oh, my God. I got to do merch. I gotta do it. Yes, I will. But it's fun and it's cute.

0:02:19 Thomas: Time but I agree with you I'm just laying out the issues. The only way for it to be slightly like you can maintain breaking even is to do more of it. And if we did any of it, we have to do it for all the shows because the only way it would be able because once you have like the shipping set up and all that crap, it's like do it anyway. Or I believe they probably have rip off websites that send you terrible shirts and take all the money. But I don't want to do that. If I do merch, I'd want to it the right way. I would want to sell like, instead of like a hundred shirts that suck, I'd want to sell like 20 that are amazing. You know what I mean?

0:02:53 Lydia: Yeah, I'm thinking like embroidery. I'm I'm thinking like cool colors. No, I like want custom gavels. I want to do custom ga vels.

0:02:56 Thomas: Yeah. Actual live gavels. Live gavel. Yeah.

0:03:04 Lydia: Gavel keychains.

0:03:04 Thomas: Custom. Not because you want a different gavel than all your friends. You know, you want to customize gaveled. It's sort of like, what if it's like wands in the Harry Potter universe? Do the, do the judges have to do that? Do they go to Ollivander's?

0:03:12 Lydia: Ooh. Ooh. The gavel chooses them.

0:03:18 Thomas: Do they got to OLLIVANDER WINDELL HOMES? Oh my God. Ah, light just shot through my eyeballs and I'm being ascended into the heavens. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. And then they got to try out their gavels and then they're like, here, try this one. It's like, you know, it was like, oh, that's too much, you know?

0:03:35 Lydia: Yeah. Not that one.

0:03:35 Thomas: And then you try another one. And it's like dink. And they're like, no, not that one. That one's too, too weak. And then, you know, I wonder, do they get to choose the length of their gavel? Hopefully not. Cause I feel like that would just get crazy. Like 10 inch gavel, 12. I got, I got the 16 inch gavel.

0:03:39 Lydia: I think not. Yeah. Yeah. You'd get someone who's just like really obnoxious. So dumb. So damn. So, hey, patrons, especially, let us know. Do you want merch? And if you do, what would you want? Send us a little message. Let me know.

0:03:58 Thomas: Love it. All right. Patreon .com slash gavel pod. After this break, we're going to go through Wayfarer's counter complaint. See you in a minute.

0:04:11 Ad: [Ad break 1 — ad music]

0:04:11 Thomas: All right. So that very same day of the Jen Abel counter complaint, and it's not like that's a coincidence. That's the date they pushed everything to, right? That was the deadline. They got an extension.

0:04:22 Lydia: Yeah. They filed a request for extension. Yeah.

0:04:24 Thomas: We also get Wayfarers counter complaint so Wayfar of course was also being sued by Steph Jones for that would be the second cause tortious interference with contract. That would be the third cause breach of contract. Yes.

0:04:37 Lydia: OK. So two causes of action.

0:04:39 Thomas: Unless they count themselves as part of the John does. But yeah, so two causes of action then would be the tortious. So tortious interference with Jen Abel's contract and violating their contract. So this one is much shorter and I think we'll be able to get through it in a one episode. I think the famous last words, but why don't we get started? We can skip all the way through all the stuff in the beginning because there's right, but not in a way that's interesting.

0:05:02 Lydia: Answering the allegations from Steph Jones's complaint. Right. Yep.

0:05:07 Thomas: That's just the defenses thing where it's like first defense, Taekwondo, second defense. I don't know. I just list all those things. Oh yeah. Oh, the paragraph by paragraph answering. Yeah. Yeah yeah that one that one comes first that's right and

0:05:16 Lydia: Yeah that's yeah that's that's what I was saying.

0:05:19 Thomas: Then they pretty much said lacks knowledge for like all of them it's kind of funny no I guess there were some other ones too then the defenses then the parties jurisdiction and then here we go general allegations part a go ahead

0:05:30 Lydia: Their story. Yeah. Part A, Wayfarer's relationship with Jonesworks.

0:05:35 Thomas: All right this is just background

0:05:36 Lydia: Gonna skip a lot of this stuff because a lot of this is copy

0:05:39 Thomas: Yeah it does seem like it doesn't

0:05:39 Lydia: Pasted from Jen Ables about, yeah, Steph Jones's disarming Southern twang. They also mirror that language.

0:05:46 Thomas: It what is the point of it okay whatever

0:05:49 Lydia: In or around, so this is paragraph 13 now, in or around May 2020, Wayfarer engaged Jonesworks to provide strategic communication services and serve as its public relations representative. The engagement was memorialized in a letter agreement effective as of May 7th, 2020 for an initial one -year term automatically renewing thereafter unless terminated.

0:06:08 Thomas: I know that's standard like legal language but doesn't that make you think every Every single time, like they made a plaque about it. Like I always think like, oh, this contract was memorialized. And there's like a, so it's like, ah, I remember May 7th, 2020 is like a picture of them like shaking hands. Yeah. We've memorialized so many contracts over the years. I think that every time, do you have those dumb thoughts? I have those things. I think every single time I hear a turn of phrase like that.

0:06:18 Lydia: Memorialized. Yeah, yeah. They have like a hall, a hall full of like their plaques. That's funny, yeah, unless someone puts a mic in front of my face. So notably here, they do attach their agreement as Exhibit A.

0:06:33 Thomas: And every time I'm like, that's funny that I will keep to myself unless. Yeah. Hmm.

0:06:44 Thomas: Hmm. Oh, okay. We may need to take a look at Exhibit A.

0:06:49 Lydia: I imagine we will. In consideration for Jones Works' provision of services, Wayfair agreed to pay $20 ,000 a month. As part of the agreement, Jones Works agreed to provide such services, quote, in a professional manner and in accordance with the goals mutually established by Wayfaire and Jones Works. The agreement contains a provision requiring Jones Works to keep confidential And then this is an excerpt, I believe, from the agreement itself that to the extent necessary to fulfill its obligations under this agreement or to its legal representatives. And then this, this is bolded and they note, emphasis added, Jonesworks shall not use such information for any purpose beyond the performance of Jonesworks' services hereunder. Now, regular type, unless otherwise required by law or a court of competent jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Jonesworks is not liable for any third party's disclosure of Wayfair's confidential information, Emphasis added so long as such third party did not obtain the confidential information as a result of Jones works is breach or failure to uphold its obligations here

0:08:17 Thomas: Do you think they're going to use that to talk about like, I don't know, their allegation that she went to Daily Mail or something? Yes.

0:08:23 Lydia: Under maybe. But if I remember correctly, like a lot of the talk about this when it was when it first came out was they were parties to some of those conversations in the text messages from Jen Abel, Justin and Jamie. Right. Because of the group texts.

0:08:38 Thomas: Yes. No, you're right. That makes sense.

0:08:39 Lydia: And so I think that's what they're getting at there.

0:08:41 Thomas: So it's the fact that, yeah, no, 100%. So it's a fact that they're in a lot of the texts that Jonesworks produced for that subpoena. Okay. No, that makes more sense.

0:08:49 Lydia: They note that the agreement between themselves and Jonesworks contains a New York choice of law provision. So I don't believe that they are going to contest the jurisdiction, but we'll see.

0:09:01 Thomas: Good point. I mean, even in that quoted text, I'm actually, I have the contract up now it's very legalese obviously but it does say they shall use reasonable and diligent efforts to keep confidential information confidential provided that jones works may disclose such information to third parties to the extent necessary to fulfill its obligations under this agreement or to its legal

0:09:06 Lydia: We'll see, yeah. Yeah. Yep. That jumped out to me, too.

0:09:27 Thomas: Representatives I mean the wording is weird though because I don't know who its legal representative exactly is like I guess

0:09:34 Lydia: I think it's Jonesworks because fulfill its obligations. Right.

0:09:36 Thomas: Yeah but third parties though

0:09:38 Lydia: They're not going to tell third parties unless it's part of them fulfilling their obligation

0:09:44 Thomas: To their own own legal

0:09:44 Lydia: As the PR firm or if they need to disclose stuff to Jonesworks legal representatives. So to me, that reads like in accordance with a lawful subpoena

0:09:51 Thomas: Representatives usually there is a part of contracts it's like or it's like assumed that if if you're subpoenaed by the state you know the police or something like it's assumed that you have to do that so I don't know if that goes along with that but yeah interesting okay

0:10:05 Lydia: Or it might be disclosing it if there is a legal consideration that it's appropriate for Jones works to disclose that information to their legal representatives in order to gain

0:10:18 Thomas: Oh to like make the decision yeah that makes sense it just is weird to say obligation because you wouldn't have an obligation to your own legal representation am I reading that wrong

0:10:20 Lydia: Make make best decisions. Yeah. No, I think it's obligations under this agreement. So obligations under this agreement is the first reason or, yeah,

0:10:33 Thomas: Oh so it's just written badly so you're saying that whole thing is bracketed together as one thing may disclose such information and then like bracket two third parties to the extent necessary to fill its obligations and agreement or to its legal representatives oh that's how you're reading it

0:10:44 Lydia: Comma, or, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Now we get into section B, relevant context regarding the film. I think we might skip quite a bit of this. You tell me. I think It's a lot of facts that we already are aware of, but I'm keeping an eye out for any.

0:10:57 Thomas: Yeah probably copy and pasted from the the new york times one at this point

0:11:01 Lydia: Yeah, I am keeping an eyes out for any like interesting language, though.

0:11:05 Thomas: So when we get to the I think this is kind of a new way of putting it it goes through and it's like oh and colin hoover you know thought baldoni would be be great for Ryle. And then they, they reiterate that, like, we're going to donate 1 % to the no more thing or whatever.

0:11:18 Lydia: Well, and they don't say no more here. They say donated in in support of survivors of domestic violence, and no more isn't, I mean, support is doing, I think, a lot of work there.

0:11:28 Thomas: Yeah, that does feel like a looser definition. Okay. But then we get to paragraph 23. I think it's kind of funny here.

0:11:34 Lydia: Yeah, yeah. Wayfarer cast Blake Lively for the role, entrusting her with fulfilling that vision. For reasons now widely known, that turned out to be an unwise decision. Without diving into the full sequence of events, which are the subject of active litigation, Lively ended up stealing control of the movie, hijacking the premiere,

0:11:50 Thomas: What does this have to do with the,

0:11:54 Lydia: And taking aim at the personal and professional reputations of Baldoni and the Wayfarer team in an apparent attempt to drive Wayfarers out of business.

0:12:02 Thomas: You know, I actually am going to retract my, what does this Have to do? Because I'm realizing this is their counterclaim. So if they're going counterclaimed against Stephanie Jones, we don't know I'm doing the same thing as last time no spoilers on what the counterclaims are if they're going to be like and then you know do

0:12:18 Lydia: Aided and abetted Lively's ability to like the civil extortion. Yeah.

0:12:21 Thomas: All the crap yeah so it's probably going to extend into that time period so I I retract my statement I think that's probably what they're gonna do

0:12:28 Lydia: Yeah I just I think it's so funny without diving into the full sequence of events which are the subjects of active litigation let me give you very loaded language now about what Lively did. Lively ended up stealing control of the movie hijacking the premiere, taking aim at the personal and professional reputations. Yeah. For present purposes, it suffices to say that Wayfair and Baldoni had significant public relations needs in the summer of 2024 before, during, and after the film's premiere. Yes, I would agree with that statement.

0:12:32 Thomas: Here yeah stupid yes sure agreed okay heading c though jones and jones works act against wayfarer's interest and breach the agreement here we go getting into

0:13:09 Lydia: Yeah, this I think we're going to need to dig into.

0:13:11 Thomas: It yeah let's read yeah

0:13:12 Lydia: It was at this time that Stephanie Jones, seemingly in the midst of a downward spiral, decided to stir up unnecessary drama and discord, throwing elbows for self -interested reasons, undermining and eventually terminating JonesWorks' point person at Wayfarer, refusing to follow instructions, and generally causing more problems than she was solving. In so doing, Jones ruptured her relationship with the Wayfarers team and Baldoni and ultimately rendered any continued engagement by Jones or Jonesworks untenable and intolerable. That is especially so given what Wayfair and Baldini later learned about the true magnitude of Jones's malice.

0:13:15 Thomas: Oh more of this well I've heard that from two sources now so it must be true okay if you say so

0:13:58 Lydia: For almost four years, Jonesworks' work for Wayfairy and Baldioni was managed by Jennifer Abel out of the Jonesworks Los Angeles office. Over time, Abel developed a close and trusting relationship with Baldoni, Wayfaire CEO Jamie and the rest of the Wayfair team, particularly as their strategic communication needs became ever more complex in 2024. You know, we're going to get into a lot of the things about Jones considering them to be a lower prestige client.

0:14:22 Lydia: And so she could focus her attention on Jeff Bezos and Tom Brady. The Business Insider article, they mentioned that in this counter complaint as well. And that Abel gave notice. This is all. Yep.

0:14:31 Thomas: Yeah this is yeah this is a lot of the same stuff that we just did in the last one things were not going well oh

0:14:37 Lydia: And she was concerned Wayfaire would join Abel as she left. So she began participating in meetings, and then they decided to bring on crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan. This is mostly copy -paste, yeah.

0:14:50 Thomas: This is like copy like literally copy paste yeah wayfarer through its ceo heath acknowledged jones's position but told her wayfarers would make its own decision after me I mean, okay, yeah, yeah. Paragraph 40, maybe?

0:14:51 Lydia: Literally copy-pasted. Yep. Word for word. But on August 8th, 2024, Jones, in another desperate attempt to reinsert herself, contacted a Daily Mail reporter about a story they had published about Baldoni and Lively. She did so in direct violation of Abel's instruction, per Wayfarer, not to talk to the press, given the truce with Lively's team. Nonetheless, Jones bragged to Wayfarer about, quote, trading calls with the Daily Mail in an effort to appear engaged on the account. Nathan and Abel were left to deal with the fallout. So that's all copy paste. But for whatever reason, we get those back and forth emails that were in Stephanie Jones's complaint, but they weren't in Abel's, but their in Wayfarers. That is interesting. Maybe Abel wasn't. No, she's on these emails. Huh? Huh. Yeah, I was going to say maybe it was because Jennifer Abel was not included on the to line or the CC line. She is on the forwarded message to Jennifer Abels, Stephanie Jones, Wayfair Studios, call for comment.

0:15:32 Thomas: Yeah, but they weren't in Abel's. Yeah. Okay. Weird.

0:15:45 Thomas: I don't see her on the two line. Yeah, not the top one, though.

0:15:53 Lydia: No, not the top one. That's true. And so then these emails are when the Daily Mail reaches out for comment on the rumors that there was a feud. And Stephanie Jones sends an email to Jamie Heath, Justin Baldoni, and then copies the Wayfairy Studios email and said left word for blank. She's been very nice in past. So we'll get this fixed. And then I think another example,

0:16:14 Thomas: Let's look at what they're trying to have this say. They're trying the same thing. They're saying to say, well, they've kind of moved the goalposts a little bit. Because, yes, there was a truce, but the truce wasn't you literally can't talk to a reporter, like, at all. You know?

0:16:26 Lydia: It was don't be proactively seeking. Yeah, yeah.

0:16:28 Thomas: Yeah, you can't smear each other and you can'T, you know? Now, in response to the email saying, hi, I'm a reporter for DailyMail .com, and I'm currently working on a story surrounding the recent rumors that there is a feud between it ends with us, co -stars Blake Lively and Just About Donnie, people on social media are talking about, yeah, this is all based on the social media stuff.

0:16:46 Thomas: I wanted to give you a chance to respond to these rumors. Please let me know if you have any comments. So when I see Stephanie Jones saying, left word for blank, she's been very nice in the past, so we'll get this fixed. And then another email, for some reason, blank has been nice and fixed things for us in the past. I can give her a call that this is a nothing burger.

0:17:04 Thomas: It seems like maybe she tried again to like tell them because it's to Wayfair Studios again.

0:17:03 Lydia: Well, but it says to you and Wayfarers, I think this is Baldoni, maybe? Well, because I just know Baldoni's, whenever they do screenshots from his phone, it's always been dark mode

0:17:13 Thomas: How would we know? But anyway, the point I'm making is this doesn't really seem, these PR people are talking to reporters each and every day all the time. So if she's like, hey, I'm just left word that like, hey, need to talk to you about something. You know, left word for isn't, hey, how dare you now publish the, left word is like, hey, might need to talked to you about, it could be, might need to talk to you about something. When I see left word for, that's kind of what I think. It means like, hey, give me a call. Let's talk about this. And that's all she did to not even the reporter that's emailing them to a different Daily Mail reporter to just potentially ready them for like smoothing it over. That doesn't seem like over the line, you know?

0:17:26 Lydia: All day. Yeah. Yeah, I Think the only thing that maybe they're trying to set up here is that Jennifer Abel wrote in part of this thread, team, please ignore, thanks, smiley face. And they've set up that Jennifer Abel was the lead on their account, leading their strategy, and Stephanie Jones is therefore not ignoring it.

0:18:14 Thomas: No, but that's after. I think all it shows is she says, hey well, I have this person I could talk to. And then Jen Abel's like, team, please ignore. Thanks. Sure. So Jen Able wants the team to ignore the the Daily Mail thing. Fine. Totally fine. Stephanie Jones says, oh, well, this person's been nice in the past. I can give her a call. This is a nothing burger. That's it. We don't have anything else.

0:18:35 Lydia: But I can tell you in the Wayfair counter complaint how they go on to characterize this.

0:18:39 Thomas: Oh yeah. How'd they go on to characterize that one thing where she's like, essentially saying if you want, I could do this.

0:18:44 Lydia: Yeah. This blatant disregard of Wayfaire's strategy sparked a chain of unfortunate developments. Yeah.

0:18:49 Thomas: How dare you offer to maybe call somebody. Sparked a chain of unfortunate developments. Okay.

0:18:54 Lydia: I think that's the same language from Jen Abel's complaint there, but we didn't have the pictures to kind of like give it a bigger chuckle. So then we get the someone from baldoni's team had been communicating negatively to the media it was clearly jones and wayfarer's leadership was livid as was sony so this again is coffee paste from jen ables

0:19:13 Thomas: I was just asserting that. Now that's interesting because for a second, I was like, oh yeah, that's the part where he said someone named Stephanie Jones or whatever, someone named, but this just says Sloan and Sony learned that quote, someone from Baldoni's team, which is again, the Sony president we know from the other complaint, from the actual message, the Sonny guy says it's Jen Abel.

0:19:24 Lydia: Specifically

0:19:37 Thomas: Yeah, it was clearly Jones.

0:19:36 Lydia: Reached out to jen able yeah yeah

0:19:40 Thomas: Okay. So again, you're trying to put this on her and I don't see any evidence of that whatsoever. She just offers to say, this is a nothing burger. And if it's communicating negatively to media, that's not negatively. I think we pointed that at the time. Actually, now that I think about it, I think I made that point back then. It's like, this would be what they would want to do. If Jones had done this, I guess, like over the objections of somebody, sure. A, it doesn't look like she did that. B, the thing she was suggesting to do was probably what Baldoni and Lively would have been fine with anyway. Just like say, hey, maybe we can get them to just treat this as nothing. Yeah, stupid.

0:20:13 Lydia: Splash some water on this yeah yeah I think it would have had that effect so yeah I don't think she's wrong here at all

0:20:19 Thomas: So that's once again, that'S ALL they have. In the trying to get out of the Jones contract, all they have pointed to in both these complaints is just this, right? There's like barely anything else. Oh,

0:20:43 Lydia: It's primarily this and again something that was mentioned in abel's complaint that is reiterated here as well is that stephanie jones contacting sony and lively's pr teams to clarify that she had not planted any negative stories about lively heath told her not to do that etc etc and it says at the end of

0:20:46 Thomas: Copies that. She did whatever she wants to clear her name. Yeah.

0:20:48 Lydia: Yeah at the End of paragraph 43 in her attempt to save face jones ruptured her relationship with wayfarer and baldoni

0:20:55 Thomas: Yeah. If you just say that, I guess like they're describing it like it's some world event of history. Ah, yes. And this is where she ruptured her relationship with Chex Notes. Me. That is, I'm writing this. That, that, no. Yeah. Yeah. Which was obviously a lie that somebody was telling. Hmm.

0:21:06 Lydia: Yeah because she wanted she wanted to make sure that people knew she wasn't guilty of planting a negative story yeah although jones Jones ultimately agreed to stand down.

0:21:19 Thomas: That's weird.

0:21:20 Lydia: Wayfair and Baldoni had lost all trust in her.

0:21:22 Thomas: So she did agree to stand down. So, and I think that's referring to the other thing, right? That the like, oh, hey, maybe I'll call this person if you want. Or is it referring to her checking with Sony? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So this is kind of skipping back then, I think. Although she ultimately agreed to stand out again, just for the record. I mean, she was like, hey, I could call this person no okay

0:21:27 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah, and then she didn't actually do anything? No, I mean, she definitely reached out to Sony. That email happened. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. After parachuting in for self -interested reasons, nearly blowing up the truce with Lively's team, and lashing out when told to stop, Jones became a magnet for drama when it was least needed. But Jones would not give it a rest.

0:21:51 Thomas: Uh -huh sure oh okay

0:22:04 Lydia: Ironically I thought she stood down but okay but jones would not give it a rest ironically given her later attempt to fabricate a smear campaign narrative it was jones not wayfarer baldoni abel or nathan who started advocating for a more aggressive public relations strategy

0:22:14 Thomas: Oh yeah I think we saw this before as well in a slightly different

0:22:22 Lydia: They specifically say at the end of this paragraph her quote advice was not heeded so like we didn't do Do it. Yeah.

0:22:26 Thomas: Way cool so it doesn't matter but yeah let's see so this is like the way they're building that up it's like actually jones came in and said hey let's hire somebody named jed wallace let's do let's order the code red against let's actually kill blake lightly that's what that's what they're like building it up to be so why don't you read this text we've already seen it but just for

0:22:47 Lydia: This is. Yeah and this is a text between Tara Hanks president of Wayfair Studios and Stephanie

0:22:54 Thomas: Fun how do you know

0:22:55 Lydia: Jones because it says Tara I swear with my hand to God I've never leaked anything as part of the message. Yeah Tara starts this off with didn't sleep last night that would have been August 13th I'm guessing or August 14th in the morning you know pretty heated time for everybody.

0:22:57 Thomas: That okay well that could have been any time I guess any time in the past but who

0:23:09 Lydia: Yeah that's true. That's true on August 14 at 1136 a .m. Stephanie Jones sends a message to Tara. Tara, I sent you email with what I think strategy should be as Justin is not being represented in these stories. This part is underlined. We have to fight for every story. I also attached my phone record so you could see I did not call Daily Mail or receive slash make calls to any media.

0:23:16 Thomas: Knows

0:23:33 Lydia: Yeah, Tara ,I swear with my hand to God, I have never leaked anything to any outlet. And I think you know this. I just want to help Justin and Wayfair.

0:23:31 Thomas: Wow

0:23:40 Lydia: So this is what they're saying is advocating for a more aggressive public relations strategy.

0:23:40 Thomas: Very interesting yeah we have to fight for every story that's nothing shut up clowns

0:23:49 Lydia: That's not aggressive at all.

0:23:51 Thomas: The same people who say all the stuff we saw is not evidence of a smear campaign, all this stuff. Hey, she needs to be silenced. Don't write it down. We need to know that she can be destroyed. All that stuff. That's not evidence of a smear campaign. You know what it is? We have to fight for every story. Smear campaign, baby. It's a joke.

0:24:05 Lydia: And also here, look at my entire phone record. So I so you can see I didn't call people that you said I'm calling. Yeah, yeah.

0:24:10 Thomas: So stupid. These people are just liars. I'm tired of it. They're just liARS. All right, here we go.

0:24:18 Lydia: So now we get an email to Jamie Heath further elaborating on, quote, her recommended strategy. Flood the zone with With positives, sounds really aggressive, we need to ensure that

0:24:30 Thomas: Hold on. You have to say it differently. Flood the zones with positives or something. I don't know. Maybe I put put music behind that it'll you know like some like horror music

0:24:34 Lydia: We promote positive narratives

0:24:41 Thomas: It's just like those weird random notes yeah

0:24:46 Lydia: That media outlets cannot ignore. Currently, most stories are heavily biased towards Blake's perspective, leaving Justin unrepresented. It's crucial that we fight for every inch of every story, which requires far more effort than typical crisis PR wants to put forth in our experience working with specialized crisis teams. Yeah, that's, oh, gosh, that'S dangerous. That's some dangerous stuff.

0:25:09 Thomas: My computer just lit on fire

0:25:09 Lydia: Smear campaign. Yeah. So now her other strategy here, I guess you could say, is a little more like smeary campaign -y, but prepare alternate stories. We should mobilize a robust network of supporters and third -party advocates ready to counter these narratives on deep background, as well as some on the record, making it clear that the claims being made are untrue and unfounded.

0:25:14 Thomas: Actually uh -huh yeah that's what they ended up doing so like I don't really think again that's not them saying let's smear blake lively it says counter the narratives and it says make it clear the claims being made are untrue

0:25:45 Lydia: That feels very standard to me.

0:25:48 Thomas: Yeah that'S what what I said at the time the first time we saw these lies is feels like standard pr I don't know and again this is just an email to fucking heath saying here's what I think we should do what is this supposed to

0:25:51 Lydia: Yeah, it's not shadowy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And here's another email showing her aggressive tactics. Same day, August 14th, to Jamie and Tara. Hi, both. Mira just emailed us about this TMZ report. I don't see any incoming inquiries from TMZ. So this is titled, Blake Lively felt Justin Baldoni fat shamed her, kissed too long during scene. Stephanie continues, but I've had to contact Harvey, who founded TMZ and passed, about stories they published. So I'm happy to contact him to get this story fixed, removed if Melissa cannot.

0:26:28 Lydia: I think it's important we work as a team and collectively to tackle this influx of stories. As with recent ones I'm seeing, we don't even have background to balance out story so it's not biased and then jamie responds to stephanie cc to harrah and also legal for wayfarer to harah oh to harry yeah to tara thank you I switched the t and the h and also wayfarers legal is copied on this as well hi stephani we are fully aware of all of this and we are handling as a reminder to my previous instructions please do not respond contact or do anything as it pertains to justin or wayfarER we have the team that we are comfortable with to handle this and while you may have thoughts and ideas I am reiterating to stand down thank you exclamation

0:26:27 Thomas: Be did you say tahara yeah okay

0:27:14 Lydia: Point it's so interesting here that it's like she's offering an idea that also is like so low risk and like you could also do this on top of your other strategy like this is just calling to be like hey we think you got this wrong can I give you some more information so you can update the article and this is basically being like we would rather this headline stay as is that blake Lively felt Justin Baldoni fat shamed her kiss too long during scene. We're fine with that coverage as it is because we have alternative means of handling this that we're not going to tell you about even though you're our public relations firm. I don't know. Crazy. Yeah.

0:27:17 Thomas: Ideas seems better than yeah yeah true this just isn't anything this is juste someone giving suggestions and them not taking them okay what What is this proof? What is it? What is all this?

0:27:55 Lydia: Over

0:28:05 Ad: [Ad break 2 — ad music]

0:28:05 Thomas: All right. Keep going.

0:28:07 Lydia: The next week or so Wayfarer and Jones went back and forth with Wayfarers reiterating that it did not want Jones acting on its behalf and to leave on the ground work to Abel and Nathan. On August 21st 2024 Wayfarer learned that Jones works had suddenly terminated Abel threatening her seizing her phone and marching her out of the JonesWorks Los Angeles office. Wayfair's CEO immediately reached out to Jones expressing, and Wayfaire's CEO, reminder, Jamie Heath, immediately reached up to Jones expressing extreme concern. Jones brushed off his alarm and noted that Wayfairy had an exclusive contract with JonesWork's through May 2025.

0:28:41 Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. This is good. Have we seen this?

0:28:46 Lydia: I think I've seen this, yeah.

0:28:46 Thomas: Maybe we've seen this, but it's worth. Yeah, I think it's older. But yeah, let's see this. Here we go. So this is on the day. Oh, Eastern Time. So this was like in the middle of things, huh?

0:28:52 Lydia: Oh, this is when, yeah, so this is right before Jen Abel's text asking if her phone will be released because she's heading back to Verizon right now because this would be 1 .18 Pacific time. So this is from Stephanie Jones, and we only know to Jamie, but a variety of people are CC'd.

0:28:58 Thomas: For a phone number. Yeah. Mm -hmm. Very interesting. Oh,

0:29:10 Lydia: Hi, Jamie. Justin, Wayfarer, you, Tara, and team are extremely important to us. I received your text a little over an hour ago, but I'm currently unable to make calls on my cell at my current location. I'm so sorry, exclamation point. Redacted, one of our SVPs, whom you have cited has been one of your day -to -day senior executives on your account, said he just spoke with you. I'm wondering if that's Mitchell. Matthew Mitchell? Yeah.

0:29:31 Thomas: Maybe.

0:29:32 Lydia: Said he just spoke with you and nothing was urgent it was about the announcement for the new book adaptation we're working on placing it on the heels of IEWU your below email is inaccurate as you know I have been deeply involved in strategy planning account management and high level PR and media comms as well as crisis until you asked me to stop communicating on behalf of Justin and Wayfarer on August 9th 2024 and allow only Jennifer Matthew and team to handle I've been on set during shoots and have had numerous calls weekly with my team and yours as well as many with Justin, particularly regarding Blake, often at 11 p .m., 1 a .m. Eastern. My commitment spans not only the past eight years, but also the last four since you joined. This has never been one person, but rather it has been a true team effort with my full support alongside a dedicated team at Jonesworks, including a senior vice president, two senior publicists, several account executives, and account coordinators working tirelessly for Justin and Wayfarer. On August 9th, 2024, you indicated that you wanted only Jennifer Abel and blank,

0:30:41 Thomas: Yeah ,I was thinking it. Maybe it is. I feel like it's TMZ because it's so small.

0:30:42 Lydia: Yeah, which demonstrates that I wouldn't have been stepping in, quote, mid -trial. I have spoken to blank, and I also attempted to reach blank yesterday about a magazine cover for Justin that I've been working on for the last year now. Yeah, probably. As I noted below, I have also made many attempts to contact you through email and phone, but I have not received any responses. We have an exclusive contract with you through May 2025. You contracted a crisis PR firm to handle all crisis -related matters. If you would now like us to help with that, we absolutely can and will. Please let me know. And please know that our team at JonesWorks is well -equipped to manage everything as we always have without missing a beat. Thank you, Stephanie. I bet you legal CC'd on there. JonesWork's legal.

0:31:05 Thomas: In caps. Probably yeah that's hey reminder we have a contract so I would be like hey man fucking great you don't want me to do anything I don't care have fun paying me for to do nothing until the contract's over like whatever that's what you

0:31:38 Lydia: I will still cash my checks thank you very

0:31:41 Thomas: Did this is a trumpian attempt to not pay somebody you owe money to

0:31:45 Lydia: Much yeah yeah notably on the same day now we're just back to wayfarer's narrative here notably onthe same day august 21st within just hours of terminating abel and seizing her phone jones had apparently already gone through it and shared confidential information relating to wayfair and baldoni with leslie sloan blake lively's publicist how would she have done that if she was not in the same place as the phone phone unless like how she was in New York. So how in the world would she have gone through Jen Abel's phone? Yeah.

0:32:09 Thomas: Yeah she was in new york she wasn't even there it's funny because we know what that's referring to because of the other complaint where it's like sloan saying hey Hey, I know what you did last summer or whatever, but they don't even put it in this one. So it's just like Jones had apparently, like they don'T even, had apparently already gone through it and shared confidential information relating to Wayfair and Baldoni with Leslie Sloan. Where? What? That's, you're just asserting it, but okay.

0:32:36 Lydia: They do mention at the end of that paragraph, but no quotations here, just a little rhetorical device. That day, Sloan contacted Nathan disclosing that she had seen her text messages about Lively, which could only have come from Abel phone and gloating that she should expect to be sued. It's a different characterization than I think we've seen other places

0:32:54 Thomas: Okay. So I will say this. If that allegation is true, I guess maybe they would have a claim there, right? Because yes, it's the work. And so that's, and actually maybe that's what we were talking about in the beginning. You were saying is the subpoena and it might still be, but this might've also been what they were talking about, right?

0:33:12 Thomas: So if Steph Jones did actually share with Sloan confidential information about Wayfair, then that would probably be a violation of the contract, a breach of the contract, I guess.

0:33:27 Lydia: Not that might not necessarily be the

0:33:29 Thomas: No, I know. I'm saying if that were true, then I guess they would have a claim there. So I see why they're doing this, but what would that be? First off, it seems like it's just just Nathan, right? If Sloan is contacting Nathan saying Nathan's going to get sued.

0:33:31 Lydia: Case yes yeah and seen her text messages about lively so there are so many text messages that are just between jen able and melissa nathan so many and we haven't seen everything of course but there's a number that are group messages that might involve justin the pr team etc etc but mostly I mean I would be surprised well maybe I wouldn't be surprised maybe I don't pass stephanie jones I donno I'll take take that back

0:34:03 Thomas: Yeah, no, it's possible that Stephanie Jones slipped up here and did share something she wasn't supposed to. I open to that evidence. I don't see it here because still we only have a Sloan contacted Nathan. They don't give us that here, but like, yeah, I mean, it is possible, but it also seems like there isn't anything confidential about Wayfarer in that, right.

0:34:09 Lydia: Heated in the moment

0:34:24 Thomas: Like what would it have have been X.

0:34:24 Lydia: Yeah and there's nothing I guess I would expect language the on information and belief Jones shared confidential wayfarer information with third parties in violation of their agreement but the only on information in belief we get here is about Jones shared such information with other third parties and in no event pursuant to a subpoena or any kind of lawful court order which is not necessarily true now you know same day that jenny abel's fired that's a different story I guess but anything where it's like alleging that wayfarer information was shared I don't see any language that kind of sets

0:34:52 Thomas: It doesn't give us what it is.

0:35:00 Lydia: It up like that yeah

0:35:01 Thomas: It just is making the allegation. So I don't know what it takes to properly plead that, you know, we can ask the lawyer because it's not defamation. It's not like where you have to actually specifically give a state. Well, OK, it could be like that, I guess. But like, it's not defamation. And I'm saying we do know kind of how that works, where you do have to be specific. If this is a breach of contract claim, I actually just don't. I don't know. Like, we'll ask a lawyer, do you need to be able to point to, hey, here is exactly how you violated the confidentiality clause, or are you able to just say on information and belief you violated The Confidentiality Clause? I don't know. I feel like it might need to be a little more specific, but I don't know. Not sure. I want to reiterate, you already said it, but that last sentence, that day Sloan contacted Nathan disclosing that she had seen her text messages about Lively, which could only have come from Abel's phone.

0:35:48 Thomas: I mean, we've kind of said it. But just specifically, what is the wayfarer of that? It's Nathan.

0:35:50 Lydia: Is wayfarers actually implicated in those messages at all

0:35:54 Thomas: Melissa Nathan is not Wayfarer. Lively is not Wayfarers.

0:35:55 Lydia: Nope lively is not wayfarable is not

0:35:59 Thomas: Abel's not Wayfairer. I mean, could they extend it to like, Wayfarer has enlisted them for PR maybe?

0:35:59 Lydia: Wayfarer yeah I would think that they would have to be Wayfarers employees not

0:36:08 Thomas: So yeah, it's not confidential information about Wayfaire really that she obtained through their business relationship. Yeah. No, no, no. Okay. Let's go on here.

0:36:14 Lydia: Vendors As September drew nearer Wayfarer and Baldoni with the assistance of Abel and Nathan continue their tireless efforts to promote the film, put out fires, and see the project through to the finish line. Jones, on the other hand, was stewing in jealousy towards Abel and resentment towards Wayfarer Baldoni for their lack of confidence in her. I get like a great cartoon image in my head like reading that sentence. It's very visually enticing.

0:36:34 Thomas: Sure stewing yeah yeah I just don't buy that at

0:36:42 Lydia: On information and belief, Jones reached out voluntarily to Lively's team, offering what she she believed to be ammunition against Wayfarer, Baldoni, Abel, and Nathan, wielding reams of Abel's private communications, which, with some unscrupulous massaging and creativity, could be sliced, diced, and stripped of context to support a false narrative about them.

0:37:05 Lydia: At the time, an embattled Lively was licking her wounds after a well -publicized series of promotional missteps and off -putting public appearances, that resulted in a cascade of negative publicity. On information and belief, Jones believed and was ultimately correct that Lively and her team would be willing participants in her scheme.

0:37:02 Thomas: All sure uh -huh so stupid

0:37:28 Lydia: In turning over these materials to Lively, Jones knew full well that the blowback would engulf not only Abel and Nathan, but also current JonesWorks clients Wayfair and Baldoni.

0:37:28 Thomas: Oh

0:37:39 Lydia: So they were clients as of, yeah, because I guess we're still in August. Are we? No, no, we're not in August, that'd be September.

0:37:38 Thomas: They are clients then okay they're clients for the bad stuff but not for the good stuff by the time she's yeah by the times she's turning over stuff we're not there or well they might be alleging that this is a tip -off call ahead of time which actually in fairness I said let that that probably happened. Like it probably was like, Hey, but that still wouldn't be, I mean, we'll talk to the lawyer, but if she's like, hey, got some stuff sure would be a shame if some Van Zandt out there would subpoena me. I don't think, look, I'm not a contract expert. I don't know. I think that would qualify as a breach of that, but I could be wrong.

0:38:16 Lydia: Although Wayfarer and Baldoni were not yet aware of the magnitude of Jones's betrayal, Jones clearly expected Wayfarers to terminate the JonesWorks agreement. Notwithstanding her own despicable and surreptitious conniving, Jones cynically started taking steps transparently intended to make it harder to cut her loose. Those steps included sending email after unwelcome email to Heath and others long

0:38:38 Thomas: Why would that make it harder? Why would they make it hard?

0:38:40 Lydia: After their relationship had ruptured to lay the groundwork to contest that she had been detached and non -responsive

0:38:46 Thomas: Why? Why would that mean her?

0:38:46 Lydia: For years. This is, again, from Jen Abel's complaint as well. This was especially galling as Jones had been in Europe and largely incommunicado, etc., etc.

0:38:52 Thomas: No, yeah, it's the same thing. Why would that make her harder for her to be cut loose?

0:38:58 Lydia: Yeah.

0:38:59 Thomas: Doesn't make. Okay.

0:39:00 Lydia: Wayfair and Baldoni now view Jones as a walking disaster who had demonstrated an astonishing degree of self -absorption, disloyalty.

0:39:07 Thomas: Cause of those times she She suggested maybe she could call someone on our behalf. Yeah.

0:39:11 Lydia: Yeah. And then didn't. And then Didn't. And proved it to your president. Yeah.

0:39:15 Thomas: And they do this skipping in time over and over. And I think that's intentional.

0:39:18 Lydia: I think so, too.

0:39:19 Thomas: It's happened enough times where it's like, because they've gone forward in time to the subpoena stuff. And then now they're going back to before that when nothing had fucking happened.

0:39:27 Lydia: But after Abel was fired as well, maybe?

0:39:31 Thomas: Kind of sometimes.

0:39:31 Lydia: Maybe not. Yeah.

0:39:32 Thomas: Yeah. Because now it says after Joan suddenly unceremoniously. So it's, like, I think they try to jump ahead in time to poison the well a little bit to then retroactively give them license to be mad at her back when nothing happened. Happened.

0:39:43 Lydia: I think that's a great point. As you said, paragraph 55, after Jones suddenly and unceremoniously fired Abel in the midst of this crisis, leaving Wayfair in the lurch, communications between Jones and Wayfaire broke down completely. Jones vacillated between insisting that they only speak through lawyers and making erratic and deranged threats to sue, demanding exorbitant payment for work not done and insisting against evidence that she was doing an amazing job.

0:40:07 Thomas: So translate that into reality speak. Hey, after you tried to breach the contract and not pay her and get out of it, she's like, maybe we should get the law people involved because of the contract. And we'd actually done a great job. So you owe us all this money.

0:40:19 Lydia: This is so weird, though, because, OK, so after they fired Abel, they don't talk about them terminating their relationship with Jones at all. They just say after Abel was fired, communications broke down and then Stephanie Jones said that they had to only speak through lawyers. That makes it seem like she's still their PR person.

0:40:38 Thomas: Why would they be speaking?

0:40:39 Lydia: If they say that they've terminated their relationship with Jones, I don't blame Stephanie Jones saying we should, you know, be communicating through lawyers here because we're in a dispute.

0:40:47 Thomas: That's what I'm saying. I mean, yeah, that's all it is. Yeah.

0:40:49 Lydia: But what I'm saying is they don't indicate in this paragraph at all that they've let her go. So the way this reads is like that Stephanie Jones is a freaking crazy person who is making her current client speak to her via lawyers. You see what I'M SAYING?

0:41:03 Thomas: Yeah.

0:41:03 Lydia: Like, they say that she fired Abel in the midst of this crisis, leaving Wayfair in the lurch, but it never says Wayfaire terminated.

0:41:11 Thomas: It says passive voice communications broke down.

0:41:14 Lydia: Yeah, but that's it.

0:41:14 Thomas: Why Would That Happen? Except for you leave out the part where you tried to screw her and get out of the contract yeah oh

0:41:21 Lydia: Purposeful. Although they did not yet know just how far Jones had taken things, Wayfair and Baldoni considered her behavior to be a material breach of the agreement and advised Jones that they were terminating the Jones Works agreement as of the end of August. But that happened before, I am sure of it, that it happened before she insisted that they only speak through lawyers and threatening to sue them and demanding payment for work not done.

0:41:44 Lydia: Like there's that none of that happened. Before that.

0:41:46 Thomas: If you are able to fast forward in time you can make people do really irrational things if you're able to like go wherever in time yeah that guy punched me in the face after I pulled a gun on him but if you don't know about the gun part then he just punched me the face and so that's why I pulled the gun on

0:41:57 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Reorder the story and the other person looks insane. In December 2024, the Wayfair team finally learned the full extent of Jones' betrayal as a result of Jones's deliberate and unlawful disclosure of their private information, which Lively's team exploited to concoct a false and disturbing narrative about them. Wayfarer and Baldoni have been irrevocably harmed. Following the coordinated, quote, drop of Lively's fantastical civil rights department complaint and an explosive New York Times article, Wayfarer and Baldoni became objects of public scorn and derision. Baldoni has been wrongfully labeled as a sex pest. His accolades have been rescinded, etc., etc. We've talked about this before. The same is true of Wayfarer, which has been falsely cast as an enabler of sexual misconduct and the architect of a vicious retaliation campaign against a victim of such misconduct.

0:42:51 Lydia: Indeed, its very viability as a studio has been thrown into doubt as a direct result of Jones's actions on behalf of JonesWorks. All right. So now we're going to get into their causes of action. Any guesses?

0:42:50 Thomas: I agree sure all right what oh yeah let's see well they're going to say breach. I mean, that's obvious. Like what can they say? They're going to say breach, they're going to say they could add it so they could go for the confidentiality stuff. They could go that violates the contract. They could also go that's also the thing, the false light thing. We could also throw it. Look, I learned from last time we get the intentional infliction. We could get the negligent infliction, we could get both of those.

0:43:16 Lydia: The false light. Yeah. Probably not promissory fraud. I have not read ahead.

0:43:28 Thomas: Probably not. Yeah, what was the promissory? Oh, it was the phone thing. It would be crazy if he only knew a few torts and tries to fit them into everything. Friedman's like, oh yeah. And if you think about it, she promised to, yeah.

0:43:30 Lydia: It was that she would get her phone number back.

0:43:36 Lydia: Yeah, he's like, this is my favorite one. You pinky swore.

0:43:43 Thomas: He knows three laws and then he just gets it into everything. Yeah, no, I can't. So I think it's going to be breach. It's going be, no you actually breached. It'S going to BE. Yeah. I'm trying to think, is there anything? Yeah.

0:43:53 Lydia: No false imprisonment for them. Okay. There would be no like tortious interference against

0:43:59 Thomas: I don't think there could be that. No. I think there could only be, yeah, breach, breach of contract.

0:44:00 Lydia: Stephanie Jones. That doesn't make sense. Mm hmm.

0:44:06 Thomas: Obviously, they could also go after the private stuff with the false light thing, probably.

0:44:10 Lydia: Can you make the emotional distress claims as a like company?

0:44:14 Thomas: Oh, that's a good point. This is just Wayfarer, isn't it?

0:44:16 Lydia: Yeah.

0:44:17 Thomas: Maybe not then. Yeah, that's a good point. I don't think you could do that.

0:44:20 Lydia: OK, well, are we ready for the reveal? OK.

0:44:21 Thomas: Uh, okay. Yeah, let's do it.

0:44:23 Lydia: First cause of action. You're right. Breach of contract.

0:44:26 Thomas: Obviously. Yeah, THAT one was a gimme.

0:44:26 Lydia: Yeah. Yeah, and that's against Jones and JonesWorks. Let's see if there's anything good in here. As alleged here and above Jones works and Jones failed to render services, quote, in a professional manner and in accordance with Wayfarer's goals and thereby breached the agreement. And then they reiterate the confidential statement that we read earlier in their counterclaims about how Jones Works is supposed to manage any confidential or sensitive information regarding Wayfair. OK.

0:44:52 Thomas: All right, so how do they specifically allege that she breached that?

0:44:55 Lydia: As alleged here and above, Jones Works and Jones egregiously breached the foregoing confidentiality provision by voluntarily and maliciously disclosing confidential information to third parties, including without limitation, Leslie Sloan, for the express purpose of harming the interests of Wayfarer and Baldoni. Which is interesting because and it's also interesting because the only thing that they mentioned about Leslie Sloane was that it was Nathan's text regarding Lively. So they didn't allege that ever. However, the confidential information was not disclosed by Jones Works and Jones pursuant to a subpoena or otherwise required by a court of competent

0:45:12 Thomas: Yeah, so it's not about the subpoena. Yeah. Cool. No, no, that's... I think that's right. I think because they're trying to say it's just the Sloan thing. Yeah.

0:45:31 Lydia: Jurisdiction. That didn't age well. Oh, I see. The Sloan thing prior to the date. Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep, yep.

0:45:39 Thomas: They're trying to get away from the idea that she can use that as a defense. Yeah. But then they say,

0:45:44 Lydia: JonesWorks are liable for the subsequent disclosure of said confidential information by third parties because such third parties obtained the confidential information as a result of JonesWorks breach of its obligation under the agreement. So are they saying that any rumor mill that happened after the fact, any, you know, game of telephone?

0:45:52 Thomas: So yeah. But if, well, yeah, but if they're saying, like, I think they're trying to get people to think, oh yeah, they're liable. She's liable, Jones works, Jones was liable for the whole thing, the whole shebang. But, if they are specifically saying that Sloan, it's just what they told Sloan. What did Sloan do? What damage did Sloan cause with this alleged confidential information. Like, tell me that.

0:46:23 Thomas: I think they would have, like, if they're going to get to the point where they're gonna actually seek damages for whatever the fuck that is, they've got to tell me what that is somewhat, right?

0:46:32 Lydia: Yeah. I think so. Yeah yeah.

0:46:32 Thomas: I got nothing. I don't know what that is. Okay. Foregoing breaches were incurable. Sure. Okay, that's fine. Contract -y stuff. Wayfarer has substantially performed the agreement or was excused from doing so. We saw the same language in JonesWorks standard stuff.

0:46:44 Lydia: And damages in an amount to be proven at trial.

0:46:47 Thomas: What I'll say about this is I feel like this would be a super easy one weird trick to get out of any contract. I said Trumpian before, really does remind me of that. If we contract with some landscapers and we're like, Hey, for 12, we'll pay you. We're signed on for 12 months. You got to do this landscaping duty. And then one day we're Like, Hey this all sucks. And they're like Oh, okay. Well tell you what we could trim those bushes over there. And I go, no, don't you? I don't want you to do that. Don't you dare trim those Bushes over there? That's inconsistent with our mission at the Smith house. Then you're like well, they violated the contract because they tried to trim those bushes over there. And that's inconsistent with our vision. I don't think you could just do that. Like that doesn't really, I mean, one thing if it was like, they cut down our prize tree without asking, maybe, but like that does, I don't, they have nothing there.

0:47:35 Thomas: That would be a weird, easy way to get out of a contract, I think, but who knows? Trump does it, but he does it.

0:47:35 Lydia: He does.

0:47:39 Thomas: He did it by just not paying and then intimidating people in court. I don't think it's actually like legally sound. It's just people quit fighting it. Whoa.

0:47:48 Lydia: Yeah I think that's 100 percent what's going on there.

0:47:50 Thomas: Second and final cause of action.

0:47:52 Lydia: Yep. Breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. That's it. All right.

0:47:55 Thomas: Oh that's all we get oh that that's a big loss okay

0:48:07 Lydia: Wayfarer hereby incorporates each and every allegation set

0:48:12 Thomas: Well breach of implied covenant okay this is so short let's might as well read us the whole thing here etc etc

0:48:17 Lydia: Forth above as if set forth fully herein of course Wayfarers and JonesWorks are parties to the agreement which is a valid and enforceable contract as alleged here and above JonesWorks and Jones engaged in conduct that prevented Wayfarer from receiving the benefits contemplated under the agreement including by maliciously feeding its confidential information to hostile third parties for the the specific purpose of harming Wayfarer and Baldoni. In doing so, Jonesworks and Jones did not act fairly or in good faith. As a direct and proximate result of the foregoing breaches, Wayfarers suffered damages in an amount to be proven at trial.

0:48:37 Thomas: Okay man I can't wait to talk to like mj or somebody about like what I that's okay

0:48:47 Lydia: Yeah. So they're not contesting the New York forum. I mentioned that earlier. So, they agree that New York is proper. So that's all we get there.

0:48:55 Thomas: It's interesting boy that was a letdown

0:49:00 Lydia: Do we know what date the contract terminated between them? What specific date?

0:49:05 Thomas: I mean it didn't they just said they stopped having to do it because she bleep breached it. There's not an official date.

0:49:09 Lydia: Right. Well, do we know? Do we know what date they said that? Because it said that they then engaged with Jennifer Abel. Yeah. And just like looking back at Jones's complaint here, some additional information related to the agreement. They agreed not to solicit any JonesWorks employees or attempt to induce any JonesWorks employees to terminate their employment during the term of the Wayfair agreement or for one year thereafter.

0:49:33 Thomas: On or about August 30th, a representative of Wayfarer informed Jones that Wayfarers and Baldoni would no longer require Jones Works services and thereafter refused to pay all amounts owed under the agreement.

0:49:38 Lydia: OK. OK, so nine days after Jen Abel, OK. OK.

0:49:44 Thomas: Yep, it's pretty clear. Not sure how they're getting out of this one. I say that I could see. Okay, so if we're looking at the claims toward Wayfarere from Jones, it would be the breach of contract. I don't think they're, I doubt they're getting out of the tortious interference no

0:50:00 Lydia: I don't know. I kind of buy it personally.

0:50:04 Thomas: I'm just saying like I could see like I'm trying to think tortious inference maybe they could get out of that because that has to be like wayfarer encouraged able to leave or to do whatever to violate or non -compete and they have to have no I remember mj talked about that like they have To have actually known the details of her thing so they may get out Of that possibly I could See it maybe

0:50:16 Lydia: But yeah. And say that they weren't aware that she even though that they also specifically signed a thing about no solicitation of Jones Works employees because that's their contract. Right. Right, right, right. I'm just I'm reiterating for the sake of the audience. Yeah.

0:50:32 Thomas: That's breach yeah yeah yeah so separate Separate from breaching that, this is a like, you knew about Abel's agreement and you helped her, encouraged her to violate it. And I could see that, like, I don't know where the technical lines of that are. And so we'll see. Like, I can see them getting out of that. I don'T see them coming out of the breach. I don' t know. It just seems, you know, this, this IS the kind of lawsuit, like forget everything else. This is the kind lawsuit that happens a hundred times a day and both sides make their case. First off, they just settle ahead of time or they just, someone gets mad, doesn't bother, You know, because again, someone stiffs someone on a bill, they do the calculation of, hmm, how much would it cost for me to fight this? Oh, $50 ,000. Well, did they stiff me for X minus that or, you know, whatever?

0:51:13 Lydia: Yeah. Not doing that. Yeah

0:51:17 Thomas: Like, did They stiff me for an amount less than that? Well, fuck.

0:51:19 Lydia: And people don't want to risk it. Like yeah.

0:51:21 Thomas: Yeah, exactly. It's not worth the risk, not worth the hassle. But in the occasions where someone stiff you for a lot more, like a million dollars, you know, or something that starts to get worth it, then this happens. And then then even those will probably settle pretty quickly after the first wave of stuff, because they'll be like, all right, right, you made your point. I made my point. Let's both negotiate about the discount rate here. Like how much do you think you're going to get? And like, that's what would normally happen, but we're just in such a weird, different thing. Like if there was nothing else, like forget everything else. This was just them trying to get out of a contract with Jones. I mean, they could have even just done a handshake. They could have been like, look, we don't want to do this anymore. We could fight it out in court, but how about we pay you for two more months and then get out?

0:51:46 Lydia: Mm hmm. Yeah I agree to part ways.

0:52:01 Thomas: You know, like they would just do something like that. So that's why it's kind of weird to even be this. I don't know how often this kind of thing goes in front of a fucking jury. Like, how often does that get that far? I donno. Probably almost never.

0:52:18 Ad: [Ad break 3 — ad music]

0:52:18 Thomas: And you'll never guess what's next. We have MJ Morley to go over the legal stuff for this one! So nice. Yeah. Can we officially call her friend of the show?

0:52:25 Lydia: A friend of the show. Yes

0:52:28 Thomas: Could we call her, like, close friend ofthe show, you think?

0:52:30 Lydia: I think so. Though. I think so.

0:52:32 Thomas: What are the gradations of friend oftheshow, like officially in the registry?

0:52:36 Lydia: Hmm.

0:52:37 Thomas: I dono.

0:52:38 Lydia: It's a good question. I think we'll have to have a business meeting about it because I'm not totally sure.

0:52:42 Thomas: She's getting to the point where we could give her the green jacket or whatever. No, what do they do for SNL or something? Thing. There's something, what do they do?

0:52:47 Lydia: The green jacket is the master's thing, isn't it?

0:52:49 Thomas: I know, but if there's something like that for five time hosts that, or that might've been a bit for one of them. I don't know, but yeah, no, there's gotta be something. Maybe it's a gavel. Maybe the very gavels we were talking about earlier. And with that excited for next episode, when we'll have MJ back on for the law stuff. So thanks for listening and we'll see you then.

0:53:26 Thomas: How dare you offer to maybe call somebody that guy punched me in the face after I pulled a gun on him. But if you don't know about the gun part, then he just punched me In the face. And so that's why I pulled a gun on him that's inconsistent with our mission where's the actual thing that yeah yeah we got

0:53:43 Lydia: An enforceable contract. Jones is Jones works. OK. Wayfair has substantially performed. OK, well, you told me to read the whole thing.

0:53:48 Thomas: It no 73 I did and then I said etc etc saying skip skip I'm not mad at you yeah it's you're right there's only one thing what if you as a lawyer bring your gavel and then when the judge gavels you're like oh yeah I can I can gavel too you're Like gavel back it's a clap back but a gavel back you know that's probably they don't they probably don't like that it's probably frowned upon

0:54:09 Lydia: I don't think so, I think you'll get end up like you'll you'll be thrown out and you have nothing to lose. Yeah OK.

0:54:12 Thomas: Yeah but maybe on like your last case you're It's this and then I'm then I m retiring you know know, here in one of those movies where it's like, it's the last, my last day. And then the judge says something stupid after gaveling and you're like, doc, doc doc. No.

0:54:25 Lydia: But all I ask is if anyone anyone does that, that they do it in a court that videos their hearings so the rest of us can see it.

0:54:33 Thomas: Or we get a GoPro on the gavel itself. Yeah.

0:54:34 Lydia: I don't want any of this. Yeah. But like this mother court nonsense that SDNY that they don't let audio video nonsense. If you're going to clap back, if you're gonna gavel back at the judge, do it for posterity. That's how I feel.

0:54:49 Thomas: All right. That's our official position here on the show. Do they go to Ollivander Wendell Holmes? Oh my God. Light just shot through my eyeballs and I'm being ascended into the heavens. Oh, it'S so good.