A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit filed by actor and director Justin Baldoni against his 鈥淚t Ends With Us鈥� costar Blake Lively after she sued him for sexual harassment and retaliation.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic drama that includes Lively suing Baldoni in late December.
Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, 鈥淒eadpool鈥� actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.
The New York judge ruled that Baldoni can鈥檛 sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her lawsuit, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.
While Lively was accused in the lawsuit of threatening to refuse to promote the film, Wayfarer does 鈥渘ot allege facts showing that Lively had an obligation to promote the film or to approve marketing materials,鈥� Liman wrote.
Baldoni's legal team can revise the lawsuit if they want to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached a contract, the judge said.
鈥淚t Ends With Us,鈥� an adaptation of that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, with a $50 million debut. But the movie鈥檚 release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 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, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.
The lawyers said they 鈥渓ook forward to the next round鈥� of seeking attorneys鈥� fees, treble damages and punitive damages.
A spokesperson for The New York Times said they were 鈥済rateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting."
鈥淥ur 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,鈥� Charlie Stadtlander said in an emailed statement.
The Associated Press sent emails seeking comment to Baldoni's attorneys.
Lively appeared in the 2005 film 鈥淭he Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants鈥� and the TV series 鈥淕ossip Girl鈥� from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including 鈥淭he Town鈥� and 鈥淭he Shallows.鈥�
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy directed the 2019 film 鈥淔ive Feet Apart鈥� and wrote 鈥淢an Enough,鈥� a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.
Michael Hill, The Associated Press
