Justin Baldoni's Legal Battle With Blake Lively Takes A Shocking Turn, As Actor Refuses To File Amended Complaint

Yahoo

3 days ago

Justin Baldoni won't be refiling his defamation claims against Blake Lively following its dismissal on June 9.
In a statement from his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, the actor prefers to pursue additional legal options rather than revise and refile the claims against his "It Ends With Us" co-star.
Previously, Justin Baldoni's lawyer had described the judge's decision to dismiss the $400 million suit as unfair. At the time, he also stated that the film director "wants to be vindicated."
Earlier in the month, Justin Baldoni suffered a massive loss in his ongoing feud against "It Ends With Us" co-star, Blake Lively, as Judge Lewis J. Liman chose to dismiss the $400 million defamation suit he filed against her.
Legally, the film director was allowed to refile the claim with amendments before June 23, but it has now been revealed that he won't be making the move, per People Magazine.
Rather than making an amendment, Baldoni intends to pursue "additional legal options."
"Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations," said Baldoni's lawyer in a statement. "Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us."
Back in January, Baldoni filed the defamation suit against Lively in response to her own suit, where she accused him of sexually harassing her and spearheading a public smear campaign to destroy her reputation.
In his suit, Baldoni has also named the actress's husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Sloane's PR firm, Vision PR, Inc.
Now that the lawsuit has been dismissed, there is a likelihood that the narrative surrounding the matter may change.
However, Freedman, during his statement, emphasized that the dismissal does not nullify Baldoni's claims in any way.
"The Court's decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign," Freedman said elsewhere in his statement.
"And it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively's claims," he added.
The remarks from Baldoni's lawyer come after he slammed the decision from Liman to dismiss the case.
He described the decision as "not fair" and "not right" in an interview with TMZ Live the day after the judge ruled on the motion.
Freedman also stated that Baldoni desires to be "vindicated" and noted that this has been his primary focus since Lively made the complaints about him.
"He knows who he is. He knows what he's done. He knows what he hasn't done," the attorney told the outlet.
"And he wants the truth to come out, and he wants to do that in the appropriate way ... he's waiting for his day in court, where he can speak out to tell the truth," Freedman added.
Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024, accusing the director of sexually harassing her on the set of their movie, "It Ends With Us," where they both played leading roles.
Baldoni then responded with a $400 million countersuit, alleging that Lively and her husband tried to seize control of the movie from him.
However, Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni's lawsuit against the actress, noting that Lively's allegations were made within privileged court papers.
Following the news of Baldoni's suit being tossed, a source close to Lively told the Daily Mail that she "cried with relief" upon learning about the bombshell ruling.
"Complete elation from Blake's world and a monkey off her back," the insider said. "Blake is breathing a sigh of relief right now, and all tears are happy tears."
Back in March, Baldoni's lawyer hinted that the possibility of a settlement between Lively and the actor was unlikely.
The Freedman had appeared on a podcast, "The Town," where the host, Matthew Belloni, suggested that Baldoni might be willing to settle due to the "potential for the circus and the damage to both sides" of a trial.
In response, the lawyer brushed off the "circus" narrative while explaining that the allegations had done deep damage to Baldoni.
"The reality is this is not a circus when you go through an experience like this," Freedman said, per Us Weekly. "I've represented a lot of people in the worst moments of their career, the worst moments of their life. Justin has been destroyed by this."
As things continue to unfold, Lively and Baldoni have March 9 2026 to look forward to for their trial.