A judge dismissed Justin Baldoni’s US$400-million defamation claim against It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds on Monday after finding that her accusations of sexual harassment were legally protected, making them exempt from libel claims.
Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios’ lawsuit, which also alleged extortion, but allowed him and his legal team to amend the complaint to change the “allegations relevant to the claims of tortious interference with contract and breach of implied covenant,” with a deadline of June 23.
Liman also ruled that Baldoni’s claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn’t count as extortion under California law.
“The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her CRD complaint, which are privileged,” Liman wrote in the opinion and order filing, viewed by People. “The Wayfarer Parties have alleged that Reynolds and [publicist Leslie] Sloane made additional statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that the Times made additional statements accusing the Wayfarer Parties of engaging in a smear campaign.
“But the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or the Times would have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law.
“The Wayfarer Parties’ additional claims also fail. Accordingly, the Amended Complaint must be dismissed in its entirety.”
The judge also dismissed Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, which had reported on Lively’s sexual harassment allegations.
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Lively’s lawyers 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. 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,” Lively’s lawyers said in a statement.
Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer representing Lively’s publicist Sloane, said, “Leslie Sloane has consistently said that she never defamed Baldoni or the Wayfarer Parties and she was wrongfully dragged into this lawsuit because the Wayfarer Parties wanted to actively harm Sloane’s reputation.”
“Today’s decision by the Court makes clear that Sloane did nothing wrong. Sloane stands fully vindicated, and justice has been served,” McCawley added.
Baldoni and his legal team have not released a statement following the dismissal of the suit, which was filed in January.
Baldoni’s suit was seeking at least $400 million for damages that include lost future income. The lawsuit from Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios, which also named Sloane as a defendant, came about two weeks after Lively sued Baldoni and several others tied to the film, alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign to attack her reputation for coming forward about her treatment on the set.
That lawsuit came the same day that Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel, alleging the paper worked with Lively to smear him.
Baldoni’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, said the plaintiffs did not want to file the suit, but that Lively “has unequivocally left them with no choice, not only to set the record straight in response to Lively’s accusations, but also to put the spotlight on the parts of Hollywood that they have dedicated their careers to being the antithesis of.”
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In late March, Lively asked a judge to dismiss Baldoni’s countersuit, calling his claims “vengeful and rambling,” after she filed the lawsuit against him for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Lively’s lawyers, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, wrote in papers filed in Manhattan federal court that Baldoni and his production company’s claims that they were defamed were a “profound abuse of the legal process.”
“The law prohibits weaponizing defamation lawsuits, like this one, to retaliate against individuals who have filed legal claims or have publicly spoken out about sexual harassment and retaliation,” the lawyers said.
“The right to seek legal redress and the right of the press to report on it are sacred principles that are protected by multiple privileges, including the litigation and fair report privileges, which are absolute.”
Lively’s legal team also referred to Baldoni’s lawsuit as part of a “sinister campaign to bury and destroy” her for speaking out about sexual harassment against him.
Her lawyers invoked a California law that protects sexual harassment accusers, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed, in response to defamation lawsuits brought on during the #MeToo movement. Lively’s lawyers said the law entitles her to claim legal fees and damages from Baldoni once his suit is thrown out.
“In other words, in an epic self-own, the Wayfarer Parties have created more liability for themselves by their malicious efforts to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion,’” the motion states.
Lively’s lawyers added that the Gossip Girl actor “suffered greatly” by speaking up about Baldoni’s alleged harassment.
“The painful reality is that Ms. Lively is not alone in being sued for defamation after speaking up about being sexually harassed at work,” Lively’s lawyers said. “While Ms. Lively has suffered greatly by speaking up and pursuing legal claims, it is important for other people to know that they have protections and that there is a specific law that expressly protects them from being silenced or financially ruined by a defamation lawsuit because they had the courage to speak up.”
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Baldoni’s lawyers were quick to respond to Lively’s first attempt to dismiss his lawsuit against her.
“Ms. Lively’s recent motion to dismiss herself from the self-concocted disaster she initiated is one of the most abhorrent examples of abusing our legal system,” Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement.
“Stringent rules are put into place to protect the innocent and allow individuals to rightfully defend themselves. Laws are not meant to be twisted and curated by privileged elites to fit their own personal agenda.”
Freedman said at the time that they would “continue to hold Ms. Lively accountable for her actions of pure malice, which include falsely accusing my clients of harassment and retaliation.”
“Her fantastical claims will be swiftly debunked as discovery moves forward, easily disproved with actual, evidentiary proof,” Freedman said.
Lively and Baldoni’s trial is currently set to take place in March 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press