Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against Blake Lively dismissed by federal judge
Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against Blake Lively was dismissed by a federal judge in New York on Monday.
The "It Ends With Us" co-stars have been in a heated legal feud since December 2024.
In his motion, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Justin Baldoni's $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the couple's publicist, Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni's defamation claim against The New York Times.
"The alleged facts indicate that the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatized manner, what it believed to have happened," the opinion said. "The Times had no obvious motive to favor Lively's version of events."
Baldoni has until June 23 to refile some of his claims.
Lively's lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, called the dismissal a "total victory and complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times."
"As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it," the statement continued. "We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys' fees, treble damages and punitive damages against Baldoni, Sarowitz, Nathan, and the other Wayfarer Parties who perpetrated this abusive litigation."
In a statement Tuesday, Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, said they plan to "march forward" in their case against Lively.
"Ms. Lively and her team's predictable declaration of victory is false, so let us be clear about the latest ruling. While the Court dismissed the defamation related claims, the Court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations," Freedman said. "This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign, which Ms. Lively's own team conveniently describes as 'untraceable' because they cannot prove what never happened."
He continued, "Most importantly, Ms. Lively's own claims are no truer today than they were yesterday, and with the facts on our side, we march forward with the same confidence that we had when Ms. Lively and her cohorts initiated this battle and look forward to her forthcoming deposition, which I will be taking. We are grateful for the organic show of support from the public and for the dedication of the Internet sleuth community who continue to cover the case with discernment and integrity."
Lively first filed a complaint on Dec. 20, 2024, against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the film, which he also directed.
Baldoni responded on Dec. 31, 2024, with the now-dismissed lawsuit against The New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy after it published the article about Lively's California complaint.
The lawsuit claimed the Times, which included in its article alleged text messages and email exchanges between Baldoni's publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan and the newspaper, had relied on "cherry-picked" and altered communications, with details "stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced" to "mislead."
Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, said at the time that the Times "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative."
A New York Times spokesperson told "GMA" at the time that they "plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit."
In response to Liman's dismissal of Baldoni's lawsuit against the newspaper, a spokesperson for the New York Times told "Good Morning America" in a statement, "We are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting."
The spokesperson added, "Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism. We will continue to stand up in court for our journalism and for our journalists when their work comes under attack."
The same day Baldoni filed his lawsuit against the Times, Lively formalized details from her California complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni and other defendants for sexual harassment.
Baldoni denied the allegations and he formally filed his $400 million civil lawsuit in January against Lively, Reynolds, Sloane and Sloane's public relations company, Vision PR, for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suit claimed Lively pushed a "false and damaging narrative" against Baldoni that was "rife with lies and doctored 'evidence'" in accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of "It Ends with Us."
It also accused Sloane of spreading "malicious stories portraying Baldoni as a sexual predator" and Reynolds of using the term to describe Baldoni in a call with Baldoni's agent, which Baldoni claims led to his rep dropping him as a client. Furthermore, Baldoni's suit claimed he and the other plaintiffs listed were "the targets of a calculated and vitriolic smear campaign" by Reynolds and Lively.
LIvely's lawyers responded at the time to Baldoni's lawsuit and called it "another chapter in the abuser playbook."
Since then, attorneys for the "It Ends With Us" co-stars have launched dueling campaigns against each other.
In March, Lively and Reynolds each filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's complaint against them.
Liman's decision to dismiss Baldoni's countersuit against Lively and Reynolds comes a few days after DailyMail reporter James Vituscka admitted to a mistake in the use of the phrase "sexually assaulted" in text messages between him and Sloane.
In his complaint, Baldoni's lawyers claimed that Sloane told the reporter Lively was "'sexually assaulted' -- an unsubstantiated accusation that not even Lively had gone so far as to claim, designed to destroy Baldoni and his reputation."
Vituscka said in his sworn declaration that Sloane "never told me that Ms. Lively was sexually harassed or sexually assaulted by Justin Baldoni or anyone else" and said that "the Wayfarer Parties and their counsel did not consult me about what I meant by my use of the term 'sexually assaulted.'"
A statement shared by Sloane's lawyer said that Sloane is "fully vindicated" by Vituscka's declaration.
Liman's decision to toss Baldoni's countersuit also follows the judge allowing Lively to not present evidence or make any claims of emotional distress, which was initially included in her filing against Baldoni in December.
Editor's note: This article was updated June 10, 2025, with a statement from Baldoni's attorney.
