{"id":9970,"date":"2025-06-09T21:04:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T21:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=9970"},"modified":"2025-06-09T21:04:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T21:04:02","slug":"justin-baldonis-400-million-defamation-lawsuit-against-blake-lively-and-ryan-reynolds-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=9970","title":{"rendered":"Justin Baldoni\u2019s $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>A federal judge has dismissed actor and director Justin Baldoni\u2019s $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, marking a significant development in the legal feud stemming from the 2024 film It Ends With Us. The ruling, issued Monday by Judge Lewis J. Liman, also included the dismissal of Baldoni\u2019s $250 million libel suit against The New York Times.<\/p>\n<p>Baldoni, who co-starred and directed the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover\u2019s novel, had alleged that Lively, Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane defamed him in connection with Lively\u2019s civil rights complaint filed in December 2024. The complaint included allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, and a smear campaign during and after the film&#8217;s production. Baldoni, who has denied the allegations, filed his countersuit in January.<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents obtained by multiple outlets including Page Six and CNN, Judge Liman determined that Lively\u2019s complaint was protected by legal privilege under California law, which shields such statements made in civil rights proceedings. Additionally, the court ruled that Baldoni failed to show that Reynolds, Sloane, or The New York Times acted with \u201cactual malice\u201d or seriously doubted the truth of the statements in question\u2014criteria necessary to sustain a defamation claim.<\/p>\n<p>The court allowed Baldoni until June 23 to amend two claims: breach of the implied covenant of good faith and tortious interference with contract. These claims relate to alleged disruptions to existing agreements and potential reputational damage involving Reynolds and Lively.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to Page Six, Lively\u2019s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, called the decision a \u201ctotal victory and a complete vindication.\u201d They further criticized Baldoni\u2019s lawsuit as a \u201csham\u201d and stated their intent to pursue attorneys\u2019 fees, punitive damages, and treble damages.<\/p>\n<p>While Baldoni\u2019s legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the broader legal battle remains active, with a trial date set for March 2026.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge has dismissed actor and director Justin Baldoni\u2019s $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, marking a significant development in the legal feud stemming from the 2024 film It Ends With Us. The ruling, issued Monday by Judge Lewis J. Liman, also included the dismissal of Baldoni\u2019s $250 million libel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}