Blake Lively's Next LEGAL Steps In Justin Baldoni Lawsuit Explained!

So Blake Lively slapped Justin Baldoni with that lawsuit… now what?

According to a legal expert, it might not go exactly the way you think! Ron Zambrano, the Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Trial Lawyers, is not affiliated with the case — but he has some very educated guesses of what might come next. He told US Weekly this week he predicts the Civil Rights Department will start an investigation into the filings and ask for a formal response to the allegations from Justin and his team, as well as any evidence they may want to provide. Damn, that sounds serious!

Related: Justin Hires Menendez Family’s Attorney To Fight Blake’s Bombshell Lawsuit!

There are several options for what would follow — but the legal expert doesn’t think anything is going to be escalated “on Lively’s behalf”:

“Then the CDR evaluates whether to do follow up fact gathering, require a mediation, or escalate matters to file on Lively’s behalf. The latter likely won’t happen as she’s represented by two national firms known mostly for defending these types of claims.”

What is possible, though, is Blake can decide she wants “an immediate Right to Sue letter” which “ends the CDR’s jurisdiction”.  If the Gossip Girl alum and her team decide this is the route to take, they’ll have a year from the letter to file a civil complaint against Justin. If she doesn’t take that route, then the CDR would decide when the letter would go out.

Another big step Blake and her legal team will be taking is actually calculating the damages she’d be suing for. We previously reported on how the 37-year-old alleges her career was damaged after her reputation tanked, including how she backed out of hosting Saturday Night Live and got the plug pulled on a Target collab with her brand Blake Brown:

“The [economic damage] is calculable.”

She also needs to calculate her non-economic damages, per Zambrano — you know, for “emotional distress” and the like — as numbers have yet to be disclosed by her team:

“The latter is a number that is ‘told’ to us by Lively’s team is the value of her emotional distress or other human harm. It’s an art, not a science. What’s asked for in a complaint is not necessarily what is asked of a jury to award. Monetary demands in civil cases (unless it’s a business dispute) isn’t very consequential in my view.”

The CDR can also order Justin and Blake to mediate — whether that ends in an agreement or not:

“Whether they actually settle is up to the parties. The requirement is only to participate in mediation. It’s always in the benefit of the defendant to resolve the case.”

This legal battle is still in its early stages, and it’s clear there’s still a lot of work to be done from both sides. Only time will tell what else gets revealed amid all this back-and-forth. Reactions, Perezcious readers?

[Image via Nicky Nelson/MEGA/WENN.com]