Most of Blake Lively’s claims against Justin Baldoni were just thrown out in court on Thursday. In the new court ruling, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed 10 out of 13 of the actress and producer’s claims, notably including sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy on a technicality. Now, her team has released a statement in reaction to the big setback.
Sigrid McCawley, a member of Lively’s legal team, spoke on her behalf. Here’s what she told Page Six:
This case has always been and will remain focused on the devastating retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively’s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial.
Lively’s sexual harassment claims, which she first made against It Ends With Us star/director Justin Baldoni in December 2024 and he has denied, wasn’t pulled through because the court ruled that Lively was an “independent contractor” and “not an employee.” The three of her claims that were pulled through were regarding breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation. As McCawley continued on behalf of the actress famously married to Ryan Reynolds:
Article continues below…the greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they’ve targeted. [Blake] looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight.
To be more specific, Judge Liman said her sexual harassment claims did not hold water under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a lawthat aims to prevent employment discrimination on various grounds, including gender, per CBS News. Liman said while Lively’s claims regarding Baldoni had to be viewed in the context of the movie they were working on, and in It Ends With Us her co-star was “acting in the scene.” As he also wrote:
Assuming he was improvising, the conduct was not so far beyond what might reasonably be expected to take place between two characters during a slow dancing scene such that an inference of hostile treatment on the basis of sex would arise. At least in isolation, the conduct was directed to Lively's character rather than to Lively herself… Creative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment.
Baldoni’s team has reacted at the ruling by sharing they are “grateful to the court” and “look forward” to presenting their defense at the upcoming trial date. Along with Lively’s claims, Baldoni also launched a $400 million countersuit against Lively and Reynolds, but was tossed out in June. Lively and Baldoni’s trial date is set for May 18, but legal experts have weighed in on it possibly being settled before then.
In the interim, both actors don’t have any known TV shows or upcoming 2026 movies on the way. There’s been a lot of talk about how the lawsuits have and will affect their careers, or things like Blake Lively being invited to Taylor Swift’s wedding. With their trial date a month and some change away, we’ll have to wait and see how the long-running It Ends With Us drama will conclude.
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