{"id":362510,"date":"2026-04-03T22:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T22:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/362510\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T22:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T22:16:15","slug":"what-to-know-on-the-blake-lively-justin-baldoni-drama-as-it-ends-with-us-lawsuit-narrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/362510\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know on the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni drama as ‘It Ends With Us’ lawsuit narrows"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legal battle between \u201cIt Ends With Us\u201d co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni took an unexpected turn this week when a federal judge dismissed her sexual harassment claims<\/a> against him, significantly narrowing the scope of the case.<\/p>\n

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Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of the 2024 movie \u201cIt Ends With Us,\u201d which he directed. Lively has also alleged that Baldoni\u2019s production company, Wayfarer Studios, retaliated against her after she complained about alleged misconduct on the set of the film, a drama about domestic abuse based on a novel by Colleen Hoover.<\/p>\n

Baldoni has vehemently denied Lively\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

In a 152-page ruling Thursday, U.S. District \u200cJudge Lewis Liman tossed out 10 of Lively\u2019s 13 claims against Baldoni. The three claims he left intact will be the subject of a jury trial scheduled to begin May 18 \u2014 unless the parties reach a financial settlement before then.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know about the legal saga.<\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s allegations<\/p>\n

Lively went public with her allegations in December 2024, roughly four months after \u201cIt Ends With Us\u201d debuted in theaters. She initially lodged a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, then filed a federal lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The suit accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. In an amended complaint filed this February, Lively\u2019s lawyers alleged Baldoni made inappropriate comments about her appearance, \u201cinserted improvised gratuitous sexual content,\u201d kissed her without her consent, and discussed his pornography addiction.<\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s lawyers also alleged that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios orchestrated a \u201ccarefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out.\u201d Lively has alleged that the smear campaign, waged on social media platforms and in the press, proved \u201cdevastating for her reputation and career,\u201d as Liman noted in his Thursday ruling.<\/p>\n

The suit centered on 13 claims, including sexual harassment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark law that bars employment discrimination based on gender and other grounds. She sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.<\/p>\n

Baldoni\u2019s response<\/p>\n

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni\u2019s lead attorney, has described Lively\u2019s allegations as \u201ccategorically false.\u201d The other individual defendants, including Wayfarer chief executive Jamey Heath, have denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Baldoni countersued Lively and her husband, \u201cDeadpool\u201d actor Ryan Reynolds, for defamation and extortion. He argued that Lively and Reynolds attempted to wreck his reputation and accused her of using her grievances as a way to \u201cseize control\u201d of the movie, which was co-produced by Wayfarer and the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures.<\/p>\n

Baldoni also lodged a defamation suit against The New York Times over an article headlined: \u201c\u2018We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liman tossed out both suits<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Liman\u2019s ruling<\/p>\n

In his sweeping opinion, Liman dismissed most of Lively\u2019s claims against Baldoni, setting the stage for a contentious trial that will nonetheless be more limited in focus.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most notably, Liman determined that Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee, on the set of \u201cIt Ends With Us.\u201d Therefore, he wrote, Lively was not entitled to bring sexual harassment claims under Title VII.<\/p>\n

Liman wrote that Lively\u2019s sexual harassment claims against Baldoni \u2014 including an instance when he allegedly kissed her and \u201ccaressed\u201d her without consent \u2014 should be viewed in the context of the creative process behind the movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no question that this conduct might support a hostile work environment claim \u2018if it occurred on the factory floor or in the executive suite,\u2019\u201d Liman wrote. However, he added, Baldoni was \u201cacting in the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least in isolation, the conduct was directed to Lively\u2019s character rather than to Lively herself,\u201d Liman wrote. \u201cCreative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liman allowed three of Lively\u2019s claims to proceed to trial: breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation. He ruled that jurors could weigh whether the defendants \u201cimpermissibly and materially altered\u201d Lively\u2019s career fortunes.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertain conduct at least arguably crossed the line,\u201d Liman wrote.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

In a statement, Sigrid McCawley, a member of Lively\u2019s legal team, said the actor \u201clooks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis case has always been and will remain focused on the devastating retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively\u2019s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial,\u201d McCawley said.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach, two of Baldoni\u2019s attorneys, said they were \u201cpleased\u201d with Liman\u2019s dismissal of the sexual harassment claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were very serious allegations, and we are grateful to the Court for its careful review of the facts, law and voluminous evidence that was provided,\u201d Shapiro and Bach said. \u201cWhat\u2019s left is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense to the remaining claims in court.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legal battle between \u201cIt Ends With Us\u201d co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni took an unexpected turn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-362510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}