Judge dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400m countersuit against Blake Lively

A New York judge has dismissed Justin Baldoni’s $400m (£295m) defamation lawsuit against his former co-star Blake Lively.

The pair, who both starred in the 2024 film It Ends with Us, have been locked in a legal battle for several months, with a trial set for next year.

Judge Lewis Liman on Monday dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit, which alleged extortion, defamation and other allegations.

Baldoni brought the suit after Lively filed a legal complaint last year against her former co-star, accusing him of sexual harassment and starting a smear campaign against her.

Lively filed a suit against Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios in December 2024, alleging she was sexually harassed on set and that Baldoni retaliated against her for bringing those complaints, among other allegations.

Lively also shared details of the allegations in a New York Times article published at the same time.

Baldoni then brought the defamation suit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, their publicist, and the New York Times, claiming they were aiming to ruin his career and reputation with the allegations.

In his opinion on Monday, Judge Liman determined that evidence did not show that the New York Times “acted with actual malice” in publishing their story.

“The alleged facts indicate that the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatized manner, what it believed to have happened,” the judge wrote. “The Times had no obvious motive to favor Lively’s version of events.”