Justin Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds has been dismissed.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Monday, June 9, Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Baldoni, 41, and Wayfarer that accused Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, of extortion and defamation.
Baldoni’s lawsuit against The New York Times was also dismissed.
While the suit was dismissed, the judge stated that Baldoni and his legal team could amend the claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract. The deadline for them to do so will be June 23.
Lively reacted to her legal win via a statement to Us by her lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb.
“Today’s opinion is a total victory and a 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,” the statement read. “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.”
Us has reached out to Baldoni for comment.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal situation began in December 2024 when the actress accused her It Ends With Us costar and director of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and orchestrating an alleged smear campaign against her. Baldoni denied all allegations and filed his $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and their publicist Leslie Sloane. Lively and Reynolds filed motions to dismiss in March. Sloane, for her part, requested to be removed.
In addition to suing Lively and Reynolds, Baldoni also sought legal action against The New York Times, the outlet that initially reported Lively’s complaint against Baldoni back in December 2024. Baldoni subsequently filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for $250 million. The New York Times, who has defended their reporting, filed to dismiss the suit back in March. That same month the judge granted the newspaper giant’s request to pause the lawsuit while he reviewed their motion to dismiss. Us has reached out to the New York Times for comment.
This is Lively’s second legal win this week in her legal battle with Baldoni. On Thursday, June 5, a signed affidavit revealed a reporter named James Vituscka admitted Sloane “never told” him Lively was “sexually harassed or sexually assaulted” by Baldoni or anyone else. Baldoni’s lawsuit claimed that Sloane “escalated the false narrative by telling the reporter that Blake was ‘sexually assaulted.’” Vituscka clarified that the use of the term sexual assault was a “mistake.”
Last week, both Baldoni and Lively’s legal teams were at odds over Lively’s claims of emotional distress stemming from Baldoni’s alleged actions. Baldoni’s legal team alleged that Lively was seeking to remove her emotional distress claims against him. According to a letter obtained by Variety, Lively’s decision came after Baldoni’s legal team wanted Lively’s medical records as part of discovery. The judge ruled the back and forth as a dead issue.
