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Justin Baldoni’s countersuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as his suit against The New York Times, has been dismissed, a judge decided on Monday.
Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the motion to dismiss the It Ends With Us director-actor and Wayfarer Studios’ $400 million suit against Lively and Reynolds, who have alleged extortion and defamation against Baldoni and the production company. Liman also threw out Baldoni’s $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times.
In Liman’s order filed on Monday and reviewed by Rolling Stone, he wrote, “The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her CRD complaint, which are privileged.”
“The Wayfarer Parties have alleged that Reynolds and Sloane made additional statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that theTimesmade additional statements accusing the Wayfarer Parties of engaging in a smear campaign,” Liman continued. “But the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or theTimeswould have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law.”
“The Wayfarer Parties’ additional claims also fail,” Liman wrote. “Accordingly, the Amended Complaint must be dismissed in its entirety.”
Liman left open the possibility for Baldoni and his team to amend claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract should they decide to move forward with them. The parties have until June 23 to do so.
An attorney for Baldoni did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
“We are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit against The New York Times for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting,” a spokesperson for The Times said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism. We will continue to stand up in court for our journalism and for our journalists when their work comes under attack.”
In December, The New York Timespublished a storywith Lively‘s sexual harassment and smear campaign allegations against Baldoni. Shortly after, Lively filed alawsuit. Baldoni hasdenied the claims. He countersued in January, alleging defamation, extortion, and invasion of privacy.
The Timesdefended the article, previously saying in a statement toRolling Stonethat the story was “meticulously and responsibly reported” and based on thousands of pages of documents, texts, and emails, “we quote accurately and at length in the article.”
“To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article, and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published theirfull statementin response to the allegations in the article as well,” The Times statement continued. “We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”
The trial for Lively’s suit against Baldoni is scheduled for March 2026.
This article was updated to include a statement from The New York Times.
