Judge chucks Justin Baldoni's $400 mn defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively

New York: A US judge on Monday dismissed actor Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against actress Blake Lively, who had accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her while filming the 2024 movie "It Ends With Us."

US District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan said Lively's claims to a California state agency about Baldoni's alleged harassment during the filming were privileged, and shielded from the defamation claim by Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios.

In a 132-page decision, Liman also dismissed Baldoni's related $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times.

The judge said Baldoni can try to file a much narrower lawsuit against Lively focused on contractual issues.

Lawyers for Baldoni did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively," her lawyers Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a joint statement. "As we have said from day one, this $400 million lawsuit was a sham."

The Times had no immediate comment.

Baldoni's lawsuit was in response to Lively's own lawsuit in Manhattan federal court over the alleged harassment.

She still seeks unspecified triple and punitive damages in that case, and a March 2026 trial remains scheduled.

Lively alleges vengeance

The feud began publicly in December when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) about Baldoni, followed by her lawsuit.

In response, Baldoni's countersuit accused Lively, her husband and actor Ryan Reynolds, Lively's publicist Leslie Sloane, the Times and others of trying to smear him.

Baldoni said Lively tried to effectively hijack "It Ends With Us," which he directed and whose themes included domestic violence, and then blame him when her "disastrous" promotional approach prompted an online backlash against her.

His case against the Times focused on its December 21, 2024 article about them, "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine."

Lively had called Baldoni's lawsuit a "vengeful" attempt to weaponize the federal courts, and pursue "sinister campaign to bury and destroy" her for speaking out.

The Times, meanwhile, said it shouldn't be punished merely for newsgathering, and said a statement in the article that Baldoni led a "smear campaign" in retaliation for Lively's complaints was protected opinion.

Judge finds defamation claim implausible

In his decision, Liman said Baldoni alleged at most that Lively communicated the privileged CRD complaint to the Times, while her husband and publicist made what they thought were true statements about Baldoni’s sexual harassment.

"The Wayfarer Parties' conclusory allegations that the Lively, Reynolds, and Sloane engaged in a conspiracy to defame the Wayfarer Parties by disseminating knowingly false statements cannot substitute for factual allegations supporting a plausible inference that this occurred," the judge wrote.

Liman also said that even if the Wayfarer parties laid the groundwork for a negative publicity campaign but never put it into operation, the Times would not have known.

"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 wrote.

"It Ends With Us" garnered mixed reviews, but grossed more than $351 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.