Actor-director Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit against his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicist will not be moving forward, after a judge formally ended the suit, saying Baldoni did not refile any amended claims by the deadline.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Liman had previously tossed out two lawsuits filed by Baldoni in June after Lively sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios tried to countersue Lively, Reynolds and their publicist for defamation, seeking $400 million US in damages, including lost future income.
Baldoni and many of the other defendants named in Lively’s initial lawsuit also tried to sue the New York Times for libel for its story on her allegations, saying the newspaper and the star were conducting a co-ordinated smear campaign.
While the court dismissed Baldoni’s defamation-related claims, saying allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims, Judge Liman said he’d allow Baldoni to amend some of his claims to do with contract interference and refile by June 23.
At the time, his legal team indicated it planned to do so.
Following this decision, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told the outlet Variety that “the court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations.”
However, in a new court order signed on Oct. 31, Liman said Baldoni and his co-plaintiffs from Wayfarer Studios let that deadline lapse. The judge said they also did not respond when the court reached out on Oct. 17 to ask why final judgment shouldn’t be entered in the matter.
Only Lively responded, requesting that the final judgment be declared and for her request for legal fees to remain active.
Going forward, Baldoni still has his right to appeal the defamation judgment, once a decision has been reached regarding Lively’s right to recoup fees.
The actors are due to appear in a New York court in March 2026 for Lively’s original lawsuit. She has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 movie, as well as accusing he and several others tied to It Ends With Us of libel for a subsequent effort to smear her reputation after she came forward.
