Actor-director Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against his It ends with us co-star Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicist will not move forward after a judge officially dismissed the lawsuit, saying Baldoni did not refile any amended claims by the deadline.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Lyman previously dismissed two lawsuits Baldoni filed in June after Lively sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios attempted to counter-sue Lively, Reynolds and their publicist for defamation, seeking US$400 million in damages, including lost future profits.
Baldoni and many of the other defendants named in Lively's original lawsuit also tried to sue the New York Times for libel over an article about her allegations, alleging that the newspaper and the star were waging a coordinated smear campaign.
Although the court dismissed Baldoni's defamation claims, saying the allegations made in the suit were exempt from libel claims, Judge Lyman said he would allow Baldoni to amend some of his contract interference claims and refile them by June 23.
At the time, his legal team said it planned to do so.
Following the decision, Baldoni's lawyer, Brian Friedman, said thatVariety said that “the court has asked us to amend four of the seven claims against Ms. Lively that will demonstrate additional evidence and updated allegations.”
However, in a new court order signed Oct. 31, Liman said Baldoni and his co-plaintiffs at Wayfarer Studios allowed that deadline to expire. The judge said they also did not respond when asked by the court on October 17 why a final decision should not be made in the case.
Only Lively responded, asking for a final decision and for her request for legal fees to stand.
Going forward, Baldoni still has the right to appeal the defamation ruling once a decision is made regarding Lively's entitlement to royalties.
The actors are scheduled to appear in a New York court in March 2026 under Lively's original lawsuit. She accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 film, and also accused him and several others of being involved in It ends with us slander for subsequent attempts to smear her reputation after she made her statement.
