6/11 – A federal judge dismissed Justin Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times, marking a significant legal setback for the actor-director. The suit stemmed from allegations surrounding the 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” where Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Judge Lewis Liman ruled that Baldoni failed to demonstrate that Lively’s demands for more safeguards on set or creative control constituted “wrongful extortion” under California law. The court also found that Lively’s allegedly defamatory statements were privileged because they were made as part of her complaint to the California Civil Rights Department about harassment on set. Regarding The Times, the court held that many of its statements were also privileged, and that Baldoni had failed to show the Times acted with “actual malice” because it had no obvious motive to favor Lively’s account in its reporting.

The court gave Baldoni until June 23, however, to file an amended complaint related to claims that Lively breached her contract with Baldoni and his production company.