Blake Lively has filed to dismiss Justin Baldoni’s multi-million dollar lawsuit amid the It Ends With Us costars’ ongoing legal drama.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Lively filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Thursday, March 20.
“This lawsuit is a profound abuse of the legal process that has no place in federal court. California law now expressly prohibits suing victims who make the decision to speak out against sexual harassment or retaliation, whether in a lawsuit or in the press,” Lively’s lawyers Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson told Us in a statement.
The statement continued, “This meritless and retaliatory lawsuit runs head first into three legal obstacles, including the litigation, fair report, and sexual harassment privileges, the latter of which contains a mandatory fee shifting provision that will require the likes of … Wayfarer Studios, and others that brought frivolous defamation claims against Ms. Lively to pay damages. In other words, in an epic self-own, the Wayfarer Parties’ attempt to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ has only created more liability for them, and deservedly so, given what they have done.”
A spokesperson for Lively also told Us, “The painful reality is that Ms. Lively is not alone in being sued for defamation after speaking up about being sexually harassed at work. That is entirely why California recently enacted AB 933, the Privileged Communications Incident of Sexual Assault, Harassment, or Discrimination Act, which codified California civil code section 47.1. While Ms. Lively has suffered greatly by speaking up and pursuing legal claims, it is important for other people to know that they have protections, and that there is a specific law that expressly protects them from being silenced or financially ruined by a defamation lawsuit because they had the courage to speak up.”
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman reacted to Lively’s motion to dismiss via a statement to Us Weekly.
“Ms. Lively’s recent motion to dismiss herself from the self-concocted disaster she initiated is one of the most abhorrent examples of abusing our legal system. Stringent rules are put into place to protect the innocent and allow individuals to rightfully defend themselves,” Freedman said. “Laws are not meant to be twisted and curated by privileged elites to fit their own personal agenda. As we said yesterday in response to Mr. Reynolds’ same cowardly measures, we will continue to hold Ms. Lively accountable for her actions of pure malice which include falsely accusing my clients of harassment and retaliation. Her fantastical claims will be swiftly debunked as discovery moves forward, easily disproved with actual, evidentiary proof.”
News broke in December 2024 that Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment and allegedly launching a “social manipulation” campaign against her to destroy her reputation. Baldoni denied the allegations.
He went on to file his own $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist in January, citing defamation among other claims. The couple denied the accusations. Reynolds filed to dismiss the lawsuit in court documents obtained by Us on Tuesday, March 18.
The legal battle is ongoing and scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.
