India, March 12 -- Justin Baldoni's legal team is refusing to remove Leslie Sloane, a publicist who works with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, from his lawsuit. On March 6, the 41-year-old actor and director, known for It Ends With Us, filed a response to Sloane's request from February 20 to be taken off the lawsuit.

Filed in the Southern District of New York, the response from Bladoni's attorney claimed, "The Sloane Parties played an active and integral role in a conspiracy to inflict harm on the Wayfarer Parties." In the filing, the lawyer also alleged, "In a desperate effort to salvage Lively's reputation and to escape her wrath, the Sloane Parties conspired with Lively and consolidated defendants Ryan Reynolds and The New York Times ...