A federal judge has dismissed most of Blake Lively’s claims against Justin Baldoni.
In a court ruling Thursday, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed 10 of 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit against her co-star and director of the domestic violence film It Ends With Us.
Lively’s claims of sexual harassment, conspiracy and defamation were among the 10 claims rejected by Liman. Only three of the actor’s claims will now go to trial: breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting retaliation.
The decision leaves Lively’s case more narrow in scope, limiting its focus to the actor’s claims that Baldoni was behind a retaliatory campaign that shared and promoted negative stories about him online.
Lively’s lawyers had claimed that Baldoni was “persistently inappropriate” with their client, and had “kissed, groped and touched” her without her consent. Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her by making unwanted comments about her appearance and weight during the filming of the Colleen Hoover adaptation.
Last June, Liman dismissed Lively’s two claims of emotional distress against Baldoni. The same month, he dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million defamation claim against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds.
Released in 2024, It End’s With Us was a global hit and grossed over $350 million, but it was soon eclipsed by rumors of conflict between Lively and Baldoni and messy, drawn-out litigation.
The case has exposed Lively’s private messages to other A-listers like Taylor Swift and Ben Affleck. In unsealed text messages sent to Swift, Lively called Baldoni “the stupid director of my movie” and asked the singer for ideas on rewriting the It End’s With Us script. Swift reportedly replied: “I’d do anything for you!”
“It doesn’t help either of them,” former entertainment lawyer and Puck reporter Matthew Belloni told the Guardian about Lively and Baldoni’s case last year. “The longer this goes on and the more mud is thrown at each other, it really hurts both of them.”
The narrower case is scheduled to be heard in May after mediation failed last month.
