A U.S. court has dismissed actor Justin Baldoni’s $US400 million defamation lawsuit against his former co-star Blake Lively and The New York Times.
Lively had accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 film ‘It Ends With Us’, which he responded to by counter-suing her.
This latest development means the counter-lawsuit has been thrown out, but the initial lawsuit still stands.
Here’s why the case was dismissed.
It Ends With Us
These lawsuits centre around the making of the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best-selling novel ‘It Ends With Us’.
The film was produced by Wayfarer Studios, a production company co-founded by Baldoni.
Baldoni played the male lead, and also directed the film. Lively played the female lead, and was also a producer.
During the press tour last August, Lively was widely accused of trivialising the film’s theme of domestic violence.
Lively's case
In December 2024, Lively filed a lawsuit against Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni, and several other senior executives involved in the film’s production.
There were several allegations levelled against Baldoni which can broadly be separated into two categories: alleged sexual harassment and the alleged coordination of a PR campaign to damage Lively’s reputation.
The legal complaint was first published in an article in The New York Times.
Baldoni denied the allegations.
Baldoni's case
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In January, Baldoni filed a $US400 million counter-lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist.
The group were being sued for an invasion of privacy and civil extortion (obtaining information through wrongful force).
Baldoni also accused Lively of hijacking the film’s production, cutting him out of the process, and making false allegations against him.
Dismissal
This morning, the U.S. District Court in New York dismissed Baldoni’s case against Lively.
The judge said that Baldoni had not adequately proven that Lively’s attempt to ‘hijack’ the film was “wrongful extortion” rather than exercising her legal right of “bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions”.
In the matter of Baldoni’s defamation case, Lively’s published allegations were not considered defamatory because they referenced statements made in a publicly filed legal case.
The actor also filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.
Judge Lewis Liman added that while The Times retold Lively’s claims “perhaps in a dramatised manner”, he believed they had “no obvious motive to favour Lively’s version of events.”
While Judge Liman dismissed all of Baldoni’s claims, he has granted the actor a chance to amend and refile another lawsuit by 23 June. This would need to relate to any alleged breaches of contract.
Comments
In a statement to U.S. media, Lively’s lawyers celebrated the ruling, calling it a “total victory and a complete vindication.”
In a post to Instagram, Lively described feeling “the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit.”
She said the outcome has left her “more resolved than ever to continue to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves.”
Neither Baldoni nor his lawyers have publicly commented on the decision.
