Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against Blake Lively dismissed by judge

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for 400 million dollars (£294.9 million), accusing Lively and her husband, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds (Dennis Van Tine/PA)
The judge ruled that Baldoni cannot sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her lawsuit, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims.
Judge Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film did not count as extortion under California law.
While Lively was accused in the lawsuit of threatening to refuse to promote the film, Wayfarer does 'not allege facts showing that Lively had an obligation to promote the film or to approve marketing materials', Judge Liman wrote.
Baldoni's legal team can revise the lawsuit if it wants to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached a contract, the judge said.
It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a 50 million dollar (£36.8 million) debut.
But the film's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.
'Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times,' Lively's lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.
The lawyers said they 'look forward to the next round' of seeking lawyers' fees, treble damages and punitive damages.
Lively appeared in the 2005 film The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants and the TV series Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including The Town and The Shallows.
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy Jane The Virgin, directed the 2019 film Five Feet Apart and wrote Man Enough, a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.