A federal judge has officially ended Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation countersuit against actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, marking the latest turn in an ongoing legal dispute involving the It Ends With Us director and the celebrity couple, as reported by The New York Post.
Image Credit: Screenshot via ‘It Ends With Us’ / ©Sony Pictures
According to court records obtained by The New York Post, Judge Lewis Liman signed an order on Friday finalizing the dismissal after Baldoni, 41, and his company, Wayfarer Studios, failed to submit an amended complaint by the court’s deadline. The judge’s decision follows an earlier dismissal of Baldoni’s case in June.
Judge Liman noted that Baldoni had been warned on October 17 that a final judgment would be entered if no further action was taken.
Of the defendants, Lively was the only one to respond to the judge’s notice, requesting that final judgment be entered while keeping her motion for legal fees active — a request the court approved. Baldoni may still appeal the ruling.
The legal dispute began in December 2024 when Lively, 38, filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us and of coordinating what she described as a “campaign to destroy her reputation” following the film’s release.
Baldoni denied the allegations and responded by filing a $400 million countersuit against Lively, Reynolds, 49, and their longtime publicist Leslie Sloane, claiming defamation and extortion. All parties named in the countersuit denied the allegations.
In June, Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million complaint and a separate $250 million lawsuit he filed against The New York Times, which he accused of libel and false light invasion of privacy in connection with its reporting on Lively’s harassment allegations.
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Following the dismissal, Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, issued a statement calling the court’s decision a “complete vindication” for the actress.
“As we have said from day one, this ‘$400 million’ lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it,” they said.
The attorneys also stated their intention to seek attorneys’ fees, treble damages, and punitive damages against Baldoni and others involved in what they described as “abusive litigation.”
Lively also commented publicly after the June ruling. “Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us,” she wrote on Instagram Stories.
“While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back.”
The actress added that she remains “resolved to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves, including their safety, integrity, dignity, and their story.”
Although Baldoni’s countersuit has now been dismissed, Lively’s original lawsuit against him remains active and is scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.
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