Justin Baldoni’s $400M lawsuit against Blake Lively tossed

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Actor accused the It Ends With Us actress of trying to smear him and others.

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Published Nov 04, 2025 • 4 minute read

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This combination of images shows Blake Lively at the London screening of the film “It ‘Ends With Us” on Aug. 8, 2024, left, and Justin Baldoni at the world premiere of the film in New York on Aug. 6, 2024. Photo by Associated Press /APArticle content

A New York judge has put the kibosh on Justin Baldoni’s $400-million lawsuit against Blake Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds and The New York Times.

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After Lively accused her It Ends With Us director and co-star of sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 movie, Baldoni, 41, countersued the actress and her husband for $400 million, accusing the pair of trying to smear him and others involved in the production with false allegations of sexual and other harassment.

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“This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio,” the suit read. “Then, when Lively and Reynolds’ efforts failed to win them the acclaim they believed they so richly deserved, they turned their fury on their chosen scapegoat.”

Baldoni also sued the Times for $250 million, alleging that the paper coordinated with Lively to smear him when it published an article with the headline “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”

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Shortly after he filed his lawsuit, Lively called Baldoni’s legal action “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”

“This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim,” her lawyers said in a statement to Us Weekly. “This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender. Wayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.”

Lawsuit officially ends months after first dismissal

Back in June, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman tossed Baldoni’s lawsuit for the first time saying that he couldn’t sue Lively for defamation over accusations contained in her legal claim, because allegations made in a lawsuit can’t be subject to libel. Liman also nixed Baldoni’s assertions that Lively stole creative control of the film.

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The Times were let off the hook because Baldoni had not shown that the paper “acted with actual malice.”

“As we have said from day one, this ‘$400 million’ lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it,” Lively’s attorneys said at the time, calling the decision a “total victory and a complete vindication.”

The judge, however, said Baldoni could revise the lawsuit if he wanted to pursue different claims, but he failed to do so according to the most recent court documents obtained by PEOPLE, USA Today and other media outlets.

After his initial challenge was dismissed in June, Lively celebrated Baldoni’s defeat.

“Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us,” the actress, 38, wrote on her Instagram Stories, according to PEOPLE. “While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back.”

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Lively then pledged to “stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves.”

Legal battle far from over

Lively’s lawsuit is still going ahead and has been given a March 2026 trial date with the Gossip Girl set to testify.

“The ultimate moment for a plaintiff’s story to be told is at trial,” Lively’s lawyer told PEOPLE. “We expect that to be the case here [with Lively]. So we would, of course, expect her to be a witness at her trial. Of course, she’s going to testify.”

Lively won’t be the only one speaking out against Baldoni, either.

“There are individuals that were witnesses to or experienced misconduct that is relevant to Ms. Lively’s claims,” her attorney, Mike Gottlieb, said this past May. “We expect their testimony, particularly about what took place on set, will come out through live witness testimony.”

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In addition to accusing the Jane The Virgin star of trying to destroy her reputation, Lively’s lawsuit alleges that Baldoni “flouted intimacy protocols on set, improvising kisses in scenes without an intimacy coordinator present and trying to add sexual or nude scenes she found unnecessary,” the Washington Post reported.

According to Variety, Lively contends that while the pair filmed “a slow dance scene for a montage in which no sound was recorded,” Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good’… When Ms. Lively later objected to this behaviour, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’”

But Baldoni and his legal representatives are prepared to defend against her claims. Earlier this year, they launched a website titled The Lawsuit Info that contained documents related to his legal battle with Lively.

In one message, shared by PEOPLE, Lively discussed rewrites to one scene, allegedly writing: “If you knew me (in person) longer you’d have a sense of how flirty and yummy the ball busting will play. It’s my love language. Spicy and playfully bold, never with teeth….”

mdaniell@postmedia.com