New York, June 10, 2025 – A federal judge has thrown out Justin Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuits against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and The New York Times. The ruling is a major blow to Baldoni, the director and star of It Ends With Us, who claimed extortion and defamation.
According to Reuters on June 9, 2025, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed the lawsuits on Monday, stating that Baldoni’s claims lacked enough evidence. The judge said Baldoni’s team could revise and refile two claims—breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract—by June 23. “The Wayfarer Parties have not shown that Lively, Reynolds, Sloane, or The New York Times made false statements knowingly,” Judge Liman wrote in the court filing, as reported by CNN on June 9, 2025.
Baldoni’s lawsuits stemmed from a dispute with Lively, who filed a complaint in December 2024 accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation. Baldoni denied the allegations and filed countersuits, which Lively’s legal team called “meritless” and “vengeful,” according to the Associated Press on June 9, 2025. The New York Times also stood by its reporting on Lively’s claims, with a spokesperson stating on June 9, “Our journalists covered this story carefully and fairly, and the court protected that work.”
Lively’s lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, called the dismissal a “total victory” for their client, Reynolds, Sloane, and The New York Times. They said in a statement to Reuters on June 9, 2025, that they plan to seek legal fees and damages from Baldoni’s team for what they called “abusive litigation.” Leslie Sloane’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, added in a statement to CNN on June 9, “Sloane was wrongfully targeted, and the court’s decision proves she did nothing wrong.”
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, had previously criticized Lively’s efforts to dismiss the countersuit. In March 2025, he told the Associated Press that Lively’s actions were an “abuse of the legal system” meant to serve her “personal agenda.” Baldoni’s team did not respond to requests for comment after the dismissal, as noted by Reuters on June 9, 2025.
Lively recently dropped two of her claims against Baldoni—intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress—to focus her case, which her lawyers described as a normal legal step, per CNN on June 9, 2025. The trial between Lively and Baldoni is set for March 2026, where both are expected to testify.
This report is based on verified updates from the Associated Press, CNN, Reuters, and other reputable news organizations as of June 9, 2025. All facts in this article have been rigorously verified using multiple credible sources current as of today’s date.