All of Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni were tossed out

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit/countersuit is still due to go to trial next month. As we’ve discussed previously, we’ve largely opted out of covering the endless back-and-forth of the case, and the comments on this site and across online discussions has gotten incredibly personal and toxic. This has now been a sixteen-month mess with too much misinformation and disinformation on both sides. Last year, the judge on the case, Lewis Liman, tossed out many of Justin Baldoni’s claims against Blake, partially in an effort to streamline the case so everything would be definitively dealt with in one trial. In January, a huge cache of documents, texts and emails from the case came out, and they changed public perception for some people. Now, a month before the trial is due to begin, Judge Liman has tossed out 10 of 13 claims made by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni. The now-tossed claims include all of the sexual harassment claims, and all of the claims about defamation and conspiracy.

A judge has thrown out Blake Lively‘s sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni, gutting her headline-grabbing lawsuit that followed the release of the domestic violence film “It Ends With Us.”

In a ruling issued Thursday, Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of the 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit, including claims of harassment, defamation and conspiracy. He allowed three claims to proceed to a trial, including claims of breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation.

Lively, the female lead, accused Baldoni, the director and co-star, of sexually harassing her on set by making unwelcome comments about her appearance and weight.

Liman ruled that Lively could not bring a sexual harassment claim under federal law because she was an independent contractor. He also ruled that she could not file a harassment claim under California law because the filming took place in New Jersey.

She also alleged that Baldoni hired an army of publicists to retaliate against her by seeding and amplifying negative stories online. The judge ruled that two retaliation charges deserved to go to a jury.

Baldoni and his lawyers argued that Lively used exaggerated charges of misconduct to seize control of the film and then to cast Baldoni as a villain. Baldoni’s team argued that Lively’s allegations about on-set behavior amounted to nothing more than “minor grievances,” and that he had a right to defend himself from what he saw as false allegations.

The fight has involved several high-profile names, most notably Taylor Swift, whose lawyers have sought to keep her out of it. In a text message to Lively in the fall of 2024, Swift referred disparagingly to Baldoni, saying “I think this bitch knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin.” Lively also messaged Swift that Baldoni was a “clown,” and a “doofus director.”

[From Variety]

I’ve already seen comments about how the SH claims were tossed on a technicality, and while Liman used “technicalities” like jurisdiction in his ruling, he also analyzes and dismisses Lively’s specific SH claims beat by beat within the ruling. For example, Baldoni talking about circumcision while meeting Blake before she was cast in It Ends With Us was cited as SH by Blake – Judge Liman says no, it’s not SH because they were not coworkers at that point. Lively also claimed Baldoni harassed her by kissing her as they were in character and filming a scene, and Judge Liman was like, no, that’s just two actors acting. What I find bizarre about this ruling: why is it happening a month before the trial? Liman had all of the information needed to make this ruling last year.

Baldoni’s legal team issued a statement after the ruling, saying: “We’re very pleased the Court dismissed all sexual harassment claims and every claim brought against the individual defendants: Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel. These were very serious allegations, and we are grateful to the Court for its careful review of the facts, law and voluminous evidence that was provided. What’s left is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense to the remaining claims in court.”

Blake Lively’s team also issued a statement: “This case has always been and will remain focused on the devasting 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. For Blake Lively, 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. She 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…. Sexual harassment isn’t going forward not because the defendants did nothing wrong but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.