A U.S. judge has dismissed actor Justin Baldoni’s substantial $400 million defamation lawsuit against actress Blake Lively. The suit arose from Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment against Baldoni during the filming of the 2024 film It Ends With Us.
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In a ruling delivered by U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan, it was determined that Lively’s statements made to a California state agency regarding Baldoni’s alleged misconduct were protected by privilege, which means they cannot serve as the basis for a defamation claim by Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios.
Judge Liman’s comprehensive 132-page decision included the dismissal of Baldoni’s related $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times.
However, the court has provided Baldoni the opportunity to file a narrower lawsuit against Lively, focusing specifically on contractual issues.
In response, Lively’s attorneys, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, stated, “Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively. As we have asserted from the beginning, this $400 million lawsuit was a sham.”
The New York Times did not offer immediate comment on the ruling.
Baldoni’s lawsuit was a counteraction to Lively’s own legal challenge in a Manhattan federal court regarding the alleged harassment, where she is still pursuing unspecified triple and punitive damages, with a trial slated for March 2026.
The origins of this dispute can be traced back to December, when Lively formally filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) concerning Baldoni, subsequently leading to her lawsuit.
In his countersuit, Baldoni accused Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, her publicist Leslie Sloane, and the Times of attempting to tarnish his reputation.
Baldoni argued that Lively was attempting to “hijack” It Ends With Us, a film he directed that addresses themes of domestic violence, only to later hold him accountable for the negative fallout stemming from her alleged missteps in promotion.
His case against the Times was particularly focused on a December 21, 2024 article, titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”
Lively characterized Baldoni’s lawsuit as a “vengeful” attempt to weaponize the judicial system and described it as a “sinister campaign to bury and destroy” her for voicing her concerns.
In defense, the Times asserted that it should not face repercussions merely for gathering news, indicating that a statement in the article asserting Baldoni’s involvement in a “smear campaign” was protected opinion.
In his decision, Judge Liman remarked that Baldoni had only alleged that Lively communicated the privileged CRD complaint to the Times, while her husband and publicist made statements they believed to be true regarding Baldoni’s alleged harassment.
“The Wayfarer Parties’ conclusory allegations that Lively, Reynolds, and Sloane engaged in a conspiracy to defame the Wayfarer Parties cannot substitute for factual allegations supporting a plausible inference that this occurred,” Judge Liman stated.
Moreover, he noted that even if the Wayfarer parties attempted to establish a negative publicity campaign, the Times would not have been aware of it.
“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 added.
Despite receiving mixed reviews, It Ends With Us managed to gross over $351 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
Source: Reuters
Edited By Ali Musa
Axadle Times International – Monitoring.
