A JUDGE has dismissed actor Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively.
The actress had accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her while filming the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us.”
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman today said Lively’s harassment allegations were kept privileged after being made to a California state agency.
This meant they were shielded from the defamation claim by Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios, ruled the judge.
Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively
Lively's lawyers Michael Gottlieb and Esra HudsonIn a 132-page document, Liman also rejected Baldoni’s related $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times.
Liman said how Baldoni alleged Lively shared the privileged CRD complaint to the Times, while her husband Ryan Reynolds and her publicist made sexual harassment claims they believed to be true.
He wrote: “The Wayfarer Parties’ conclusory allegations that the Lively, Reynolds, and Sloane engaged in a conspiracy to defame the Wayfarer Parties by disseminating knowingly false statements cannot substitute for factual allegations supporting a plausible inference that this occurred.”
Liman added that the Times would never have been aware if the Wayfarer parties had planned a negative publicity campaign, even if it was never carried out.
“Freedoms of expression require breathing space, and a publisher must be permitted to publish the story that it believes in good faith to be before it,” Liman wrote.
The judge concluded the director could file a more detailed and concise lawsuit against the mum-of-four, if it was focused on contractual issues.
Lively’s lawyers Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a joint statement: “Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively.
“As we have said from day one, this $400 million lawsuit was a sham.”
Lively is still seeking unspecified triple and punitive damages.
A trial has been set for March 2026.
Wayfarer Studios produced It Ends With Us, the romantic drama that Baldoni wrote and directed.
The film’s behind-the-scenes tension sparked months of speculation about drama between the two leading stars until Lively filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment in December last year.
Lively accused Baldoni and his team of orchestrating a smear campaign to ruin her reputation – but Baldoni flipped the tables in a new federal lawsuit.
Baldoni then accused Lively and Sloane of creating negative publicity around the actor, according to court documents obtained by The U.S. Sun.
He went on to counter-sue for $400m the following month alleging he had been defamed and that the damage to his reputation had cost him lucrative working opportunities.
Earlier this year, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, launched a website releasing 168 pages of emails, text messages and WhatsApps between Baldoni and Lively.
Freedman defended his actions in court, saying: “Not to sound like a four-year-old fighting a four-year-old with ‘but they started it’ but once someone says something it becomes fact, there’s no way to fight against it.
“You start to lose things without the ability to have the court’s adjudication. This was not started by us.”
Meanwhile, in May, Taylor Swift was also dragged into the legal clash.
She broke her silence after being served with a document subpoena amid the feud.
The furious pop superstar’s team issued a statement after being ordered to provide evidence, which Baldoni’s team believes is relevant to the case.
A statement from an official Taylor Swift Spokesperson denied any involvement in the pair’s issues on the set of the movie It Ends With Us.
Her team claimed her loose link to the film – the use of her 2020 track My Tears Ricochet – was a way of dragging her name into proceedings to boost publicity surrounding the trial.
Lively’s representatives also attacked the subpoena, and claimed Baldoni’s teams were trying to turn a serious matter into entertainment.
GettyLively is still seeking unspecified triple and punitive damages[/caption] Read More Details
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