Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400 Million Countersuit Against Blake Lively
Judge Lewis J. Liman has dismissed Justin Baldoni’s countersuit against actress Blake Lively. Baldoni had filed a $400 million lawsuit following a legal complaint Lively filed last year, accusing him of misconduct.
Baldoni’s lawsuit, filed on behalf of himself and Wayfarer Studios, accused Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of extortion and defamation. In response, Lively filed a separate lawsuit in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment on set and claiming Baldoni engaged in social manipulation that caused emotional distress to her and her family. Lively detailed these allegations in a New York Times article published at that time. Baldoni’s lawyer dismissed the allegations as “categorically false.”
Today, the judge ruled that the evidence did not support that the New York Times acted with malice in publishing Lively’s story. Judge Liman stated, “The Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatised manner, what it believed to have happened. The Times had no obvious motive to favor Lively’s version.”
Baldoni’s lawsuit claimed that Lively threatened to sabotage the film and falsely accused him of sexual assault, creating a defamatory narrative. However, the judge found that Baldoni and his company had not sufficiently proven that Lively’s threats constituted wrongful extortion or that her statements were defamatory, as they are protected by privilege. He allowed Baldoni to amend and refile certain allegations by June 23.
Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, released a statement calling the ruling a “total victory” for their client and indicating plans to pursue attorneys’ fees and damages against Baldoni and his team for what they described as abusive litigation.
LADbible has reached out to Justin Baldoni’s representatives for comment.
