Justin Baldoni's $400M countersuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds tossed
A federal judge in New York dismissed Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively on Monday, a significant step in the sprawling legal saga between the two 'It Ends With Us' stars.
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Baldoni sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, in January, accusing the Hollywood power couple of trying to hurt his career amid the press tour and production of 'It Ends With Us,' an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling romance novel with the same name. He also sued the New York Times, alleging that the newspaper published an article heavily relying on Lively's account against Baldoni without fact-checking.
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On Monday, Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the motions to dismiss filed by Lively, Reynolds and their publicist, Leslie Sloane. Liman also granted a motion to dismiss from the New York Times, writing in his opinion Monday that the Times' reporting was protected under 'fair report' privilege, which covers news reporting on legal proceedings.
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'The alleged facts indicate that the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatized manner, what it believed to have happened,' Liman wrote in the filing. 'The Times had no obvious motive to favour Lively's version of events.'
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The judge ruled Baldoni's team has until June 23 to refile some of his claims.
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Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a statement Monday that the judge's opinion was a 'total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively' and the others involved in the lawsuit.
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'As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it,' they wrote. 'We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys' fees, treble damages and punitive damages against Baldoni' and his team.
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'We are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting,' said Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for the New York Times, in a statement on the ruling. 'Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism. We will continue to stand up in court for our journalism and for our journalists when their work comes under attack.'
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The judge's opinion is the latest chapter in a multi-month legal and PR battle between Baldoni and Lively, which stems from 'It Ends With Us,' a film that Baldoni directed. In the film, Lively played a florist who fell in love with an abusive man, played by Baldoni. The movie, produced by Baldoni's Wayfarer Studios, made more than $350 million in theatres worldwide since its August release. But the success was clouded by reports of a discontent between the two stars, as well as a marketing campaign that did not see Baldoni and the movie's cast together.
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