Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit Against Blake Lively Thrown Out Over Missed Deadline

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been at odds since working together on It Ends With Us.

sarah

Nov 3, 2025 - 20:16

Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit Against Blake Lively Thrown Out Over Missed Deadline

Justin Baldoni's $400m (£295m) lawsuit against his former co-star Blake Lively has been formally dismissed by a judge, who said the actor and director failed to meet the deadline to pursue his complaint.

The two, who worked together on the 2024 film It Ends With Us, have been embroiled in a bitter legal battle since last December, when Lively filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and waging a smear campaign against her.

In response, he filed a countersuit against Lively, as well as her husband Ryan Reynolds, her publicist, and the New York Times, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.

Baldoni's case was dismissed in June, but he had the opportunity to file an amended complaint. However, Judge Lewis Liman said he failed to do so.

The judge said he contacted all parties on October 17, warning them that he would issue a final ruling to close the case.

Only Lively responded, asking for a final judgment to be entered, but for her request for legal fees to remain active. The judge agreed.

Her original lawsuit against Baldoni is still ongoing.

Following the dismissal of Baldoni's case in June, the actress's lawyers called it a "complete victory and total vindication."

At the time, Baldoni's lawyer said Lively's "premature declaration of victory is false," and "with the facts on our side, we are moving forward."

He added: "While the court dismissed the defamation-related claims, the court invited us to amend four of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will show additional evidence and amended allegations." However, according to the latest ruling, those amended claims were not filed. Baldoni and Wayfarer have not commented.

In June, Judge Liman noted that Baldoni's lawsuit centered on two claims: that Lively “stole the film” from him and his production company, Wayfarer, by threatening not to promote it, and that she and others spread a false story that Baldoni had sexually assaulted her and waged a defamation campaign against him. But Judge Liman wrote at the time that Baldoni and his production company had failed to properly allege that Lively’s threats constituted wrongful extortion, rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working terms.

Furthermore, the judge wrote that Baldoni and his company failed to prove defamation because “the Wayfarer parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than those made in her lawsuit,” which are privileged.

The judge also determined that the evidence did not show that the New York Times “acted with actual malice” when publishing its story, and dismissed that $250 million lawsuit as well.

“The alleged facts indicate that the Times investigated the available evidence and, perhaps dramatically, reported what it believed had occurred,” he wrote. “The Times had no apparent motive to favor Lively’s version of events.”