Justin Baldoni loses $400 Million lawsuit against Blake Lively as he misses court deadline
Justin Baldoni's lawsuit against his former co-star Blake Lively has been formally ended by a judge, after the actor and director failed to meet a court deadline.
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US District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic drama.
Lively sued Baldoni last December accusing him of sexual harassment and running a smear campaign against her after the pair starred together in the 2024 film It Ends with Us.
Baldoni counter-sued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, their publicist, and the New York Times, claiming civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy.
Baldoni's $400million lawsuit - equivalent to £295million - lawsuit was dismissed in June, but he had a chance to file an amended complaint.
However, Judge Lewis Liman said he had failed to do and the lawsuit has officially ended.
Judge Liman said he had contacted all of the parties involved on October 17 to give them warning he would enter a final judgement to conclude the case.
However, only Lively responded, asking for the final judgement to be declared, but for her request for legal fees to remain active. The judge agreed.
Her original lawsuit against Baldoni remains ongoing.
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It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a 50 million dollar (£36.8 million) debut.
But the film's release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
'Total victory'
When Baldoni's lawsuit was dismissed in June, Lively's lawyers described it as a "total victory".
"Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Lively's lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.
The lawyers said they "look forward to the next round" of seeking lawyers' fees, treble damages and punitive damages.
A spokesperson for The New York Times said they were "grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting".
"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," Charlie Stadtlander said in a statement.
Responding to this at the time, Baldoni's lawyer said Lively's "predictable declaration of victory is false", and that "with the facts on our side, we march forward".
He added: "While the court dismissed the defamation related claims, 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, those amended claims were not filed, according to the latest ruling.
Baldoni and Wayfarer have not commented.
Lively appeared in the 2005 film The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants and the TV series Gossip Girl from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including The Town, The Shallows and The Age of Adaline.
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy Jane The Virgin, directed the 2019 film Five Feet Apart and wrote Man Enough, a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.