A process server was arrested after allegedly attempting to serve Taylor Swift deposition papers on behalf of Justin Baldoni’s lawyers amid the ongoing legal feud between Baldoni and Blake Lively.
Star was first to report the news, stating that Justin Lee Fisher, 48, was caught on Sept. 15 at Kelce’s gated property in Leawood, Kansas. According to the outlet, incident details were missing from the one-page police report, which allegedly stated, “This information is restricted as to use and dissemination.”
Local station KCTV 5 reported that the address listed in the report matches the address from which Kansas City Chiefs’ memorabilia had been stolen last October (when both Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ residences were burglarized during a home game). Fisher was reportedly charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing and released after posting bond; he is expected to appear in the Leawood Municipal Court on Oct. 15.
The arrest appears to have occurred just days after a federal judge denied Baldoni’s request to depose Swift as the It Ends With Us director prepares for a trial over Lively’s sexual harassment and smear campaign claims against Baldoni.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman’s order arrived after Baldoni’s lawyer, Ellyn S. Garofalo, alleged in a letter to the court that Swift had “agreed” to appear for deposition but was unable to do so before Oct. 20. The letter requested an extension of the Sept. 30 discovery deadline to accommodate the singer’s schedule.
Swift’s lawyer refuted the claim. “As counsel for the parties know, since the inception of this matter, we have consistently maintained that my client has no material role in this action,” Swift’s attorney J. Douglas Baldridge said in a letter to the judge. Baldridge made it clear that Swift “did not agree to a deposition,” but if she was “forced,” she had informed Baldoni’s camp that her schedule was too busy to accommodate it before Oct. 20.
While Baldridge didn’t explain what the conflict was, Swift has been gearing up for the release of her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, set to release Oct. 3.
In May, a rep for Swift criticized Baldoni’s initial attempts to subpoena the singer. “Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film,” the rep previously told Rolling Stone.