Federal Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni's $400 Million Lawsuit Against Blake Lively and Others

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Federal Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni's $400 Million Lawsuit Against Blake Lively and Others

5 months ago

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Federal Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni's $400 Million Lawsuit Against Blake Lively and Others

Credited from: BUSINESSINSIDER

A federal judge dismissed Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.
The legal battle originated from accusations of sexual harassment and extortion related to the film "It Ends With Us."
Judge Liman found that Baldoni's claims lacked sufficient evidence of defamation and civil extortion.

A federal judge in New York dismissed Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times on June 9, 2025. The dismissal marks a significant turn in a contentious legal battle stemming from allegations made during the production of the film "It Ends With Us," where Baldoni directed and starred alongside Lively, according to Newsweek, BBC, and CBS News.

The judge ruled that Baldoni's accusations of extortion and defamation were not substantiated. He noted that claims made by Lively in her California Civil Rights Department complaint were legally privileged, thus not actionable as defamation, according to The New York Times, Business Insider, and Reuters.

Baldoni's lawsuit alleged that Lively and Reynolds attempted to take control of the film and orchestrated a smear campaign against him. However, Judge Lewis Liman found that the allegations did not demonstrate the actual malice required for a defamation claim, and he rejected the notion of extortion based on Lively’s attempts at renegotiating project details, as reported in NPR and HuffPost.