A judge has formally ended Justin Baldoni’s $400 million (£295 million) lawsuit against his former “It Ends With” Us co-star Blake Lively, ruling that the actor and director failed to meet the deadline to pursue his claim.
The Hollywood pair have been locked in a high-profile legal dispute since December, when Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and running a smear campaign against her. The accusations came months after the two starred together in the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel.
Baldoni later filed a countersuit targeting Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, their publicist, and the New York Times, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
His case was dismissed in June, but the court allowed him to file an amended complaint, something Judge Lewis Liman said he ultimately failed to do.
In his latest ruling, Judge Liman noted he had contacted all parties on October 17 to warn that he would issue a final judgment closing the case. Only Lively’s team responded, asking for the judgment to proceed while keeping her request for legal fees active, a motion the judge approved.
Lively’s original lawsuit against Baldoni, however, remains ongoing. After his case was thrown out in June, her attorneys called the dismissal “a total victory and a complete vindication.”
At the time, Baldoni’s lawyer rejected that narrative, saying Lively’s “predictable declaration of victory is false,” adding that “with the facts on our side, we march forward.”
He also said the court had “invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations.” Those amendments were never filed.
Neither Baldoni nor his production company, Wayfarer, has commented publicly on the final ruling.
In his earlier June decision, Judge Liman said Baldoni’s lawsuit rested on two main arguments — that Lively “stole the film” by threatening not to promote it, and that she and others spread a false narrative accusing him of sexual assault and defamation.
The judge found that Baldoni and Wayfarer “have not adequately alleged that Lively’s threats were wrongful extortion rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions.”
He also ruled that Baldoni failed to prove defamation, as “the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements” in her lawsuit, which are privileged.
Judge Liman further dismissed Baldoni’s $250 million claim against the New York Times, determining that the newspaper did not act “with actual malice” in publishing its report.
“The alleged facts indicate that the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatised manner, what it believed to have happened,” he wrote. “The Times had no obvious motive to favour Lively’s version of events.”
