Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400 Million Lawsuit Against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

Apparently, it ends with Judge Lewis J. Liman. On Monday, the U.S. District Court pass judgement on tossed out Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit in opposition to Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Lively’s publicist, and The New York Times in the newest building in the scorched-earth feud surrounding the making of It Ends With Us.

Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios corporate the choice of amending his criticism to incorporate most effective its claims of breach of contract and trade interference in opposition to the couple. Baldoni’s staff has till June 23 to document that criticism, consistent with the ruling got via Vanity Fair.The choice successfully signifies that Lively’s claims of sexual misconduct about Baldoni, who directed and co-starred within the movie together with her, and the newspaper’s December 2024 article concerning the topic—headlined “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine”—constitute protected speech.

The judge did allow Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios company the option of amending his complaint to include only its claims of breach of contract and business interference against the couple. Baldoni’s staff has till June 23 to document that, consistent with the ruling got via Vanity Fair.

“The Wayfarer Parties have not adequately alleged that Sloane or Reynolds individually did any more than repeat Lively’s version of events, which they had no reason to doubt,” Liman wrote within the movement.

The ongoing felony conflagration has ended in gag orders that prohibit the quite a lot of events from commenting at the dispute usually. Still, Lively posted this as a Story on her Instagram account after the ruling: “Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us. While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back. I’m more resolved than ever to continue to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves, including their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their story.”

There was once additionally a commentary from Lively and Reynolds’ legal professionals, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb: “Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively,” they mentioned. “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 [those] who perpetrated this abusive litigation.”

The dismissal additionally clears Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, of wrongdoing. Her legal professional, Sigrid McCawley, mentioned in a commentary that Sloane “was wrongfully dragged into this lawsuit … 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.”

The pass judgement on’s ruling was once additionally a victory for the newspaper that first broke Lively’s allegations. “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 pass judgement on wrote within the movement. “The Times had no obvious motive to favor Lively’s version of events.”

Charlie Stadlander, a spokesperson for The New York Times, also referred to as Baldoni’s lawsuit “a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting.” He expressed gratitude to the court docket for brushing aside it. “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,” Stadtlander mentioned. “We will proceed to get up in court docket for our journalism and for our newshounds when their paintings comes underneath assault.”

Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Still ongoing is Lively’s legal complaint against Baldoni over her allegations of mistreatment during the making of It Ends With Us. That part, for now, has no end in sight.