Justin Baldoni Says Blake Lively is Trying to Use ‘Celebrity Status’ to Dictate Deposition Locale

Justin Baldoni says a judge shouldn’t let Blake Lively dictate the terms of her deposition just ’cause she’s super famous … fighting back against her request to hold her depo in her own lawyer’s office.

The actor’s attorneys filed a response to Lively’s Friday request that her upcoming deposition happen at her lawyer’s office … claiming she feared paparazzi would ambush her outside Baldoni’s attorney’s office.

In this new filing, he’s calling BS … arguing Lively hasn’t given any evidence to back her point — adding it’s not an issue of cost since the two offices are only about a mile from one another.

Baldoni’s team says allowing the depo at the other office puts them at a disadvantage … since they’ll need to consult with hundreds of pages of notes — and may need a conference room of their own mid-depo to chat in private.

They say it’s just easier, therefore, if they hold the deposition at their office … which they add the law says they have a right to do.

Baldoni finishes off the response by telling the judge, “Although Lively’s foot-stomping and use of her celebrity status may have enabled her to seize control of the film, which is the crux of this dispute, her counsel’s tantrum has no place in this Court. Lively is bound by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure like every litigant…”

As you know … Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has offered to hold Lively’s deposition in Madison Square Garden so the whole world can see it. He even offered to donate the proceeds to a domestic violence charity.

After her filing Friday, Lively’s rep told us this is a very serious matter and deserves due consideration from the other side … mentioning the MSG offer as an upsetting example of the way Baldoni’s side is treating the case.