Judge tosses Blake Lively’s sexual harassment, defamation claims against Justin Baldoni

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge on Thursday tossed most of Blake Lively’s claims against fellow Hollywood A-lister Justin Baldoni, cooling off the pair’s heated legal war that started amid the release of their 2024 romance film “It Ends With Us.”

In a 152-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman — a Donald Trump appointee in the Southern District of New York — threw out all but three of Lively’s claims against Baldoni. He dismissed ten claims including sexual harassment, defamation and civil conspiracy.

Retaliation, aiding and abetting retaliation and breach of contract are the only of Lively’s claims that can proceed to the May 18 trial.

Lively initiated litigation against Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios in late 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of “It Ends With Us,” in which the pair co-starred. She said Baldoni, who also directed and produced the movie, improvised several kisses on-set and made unwelcome comments about sex and her appearance.

Baldoni’s side countered that Lively’s claims were an attempt to hijack the premiere of the movie and destroy his reputation. He filed a $400 million extortion countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, but that was dismissed last summer.

In tossing Lively’s sexual harassment claims on Thursday, Liman found that Lively lacked standing under federal law because she was an independent contractor, not an employee. He also ruled that Lively relied on California harassment law despite the fact that her claims “lack a sufficient nexus to California."

“Lively’s allegations center largely around conduct which occurred on the set of the film during the first phase of production in New Jersey,” Liman wrote. “This on-set conduct occurred outside California and cannot support applying the statutes extraterritorially."

Lively claimed that Baldoni called her “sexy” and commented on her cleavage. In another instance, she claimed Baldoni announced to other individuals on the film set that she had never seen pornography — an admission she made to him after he opened up about having a porn addiction.

When Lively went public with claims of this conduct in an article published in The New York Times, she said Baldoni engaged in a public relations campaign to discredit those accusations by defaming her. She pointed to several statements from Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, who rejected her claims to the media.

Liman ultimately found that the defamation claim, too, fell flat. Freedman’s commentary, the judge wrote, echoed the same positions he took in court in defense of his client. That’s protected speech, Liman found.

“None of the statements suggests conduct more serious than suggested in the Wayfarer Parties’ in-court responses to Lively’s allegations,” the judge wrote.

It wasn’t a total win for Baldoni, however. Jurors may still hear Lively’s claims that he acted inappropriately on set when considering the retaliation claim, for instance.

While Liman noted that “it may be fair grounds for an author or a director to discuss personal experiences, including those related to sex, as part of the creative process,” he added that some of Baldoni’s accused conduct exceeded that.

“Baldoni’s on-set comment to crew members regarding whether Lively watched pornography bore no apparent connection to the creative process and singled Lively out in front of others in a way that could be interpreted as relating to sex and based on gender,” Liman ruled, greenlighting the retaliation claim.

The trial is just over six weeks away. Baldoni and Lively appeared at the Southern District of New York in February for settlement talks to no avail.

In a statement to Courthouse News, Lively’s attorney Sigrid McCawley said that her client “looks 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.”

“This case has always been and will remain focused on the devastating retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial,” McCawley said. “For Blake Lively, the greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they’ve targeted.”

Of the dismissed sexual harassment claims, McCawley said they are not going forward “not because the defendants did nothing wrong, but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.”

An attorney for Baldoni didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several high-profile celebrities have been invoked in the grueling legal fight, including Reynolds, who Baldoni claimed conspired with Lively to “steal an entire film” away from him, and Taylor Swift, a friend of Lively’s who disparaged Baldoni in a 2024 text.

“I think this bitch knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin,” Swift texted Lively.

“It Ends With Us” was a box office hit, grossing more than $350 million worldwide.

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