Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation and extortion countersuit against Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, has been officially ended by the judge overseeing the case.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman entered a final judgement stating that Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios co-plaintiffs had declined to file an amended complaint, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.
Liman said he had contacted all parties in mid-October to warn them that he would be entering a final judgment to conclude the case, noting that Lively was the only one to respond.
The actress, 38, asked that her request for legal fees remain active, which Liman granted.
Baldoni’s legal team tells us he opted not to file an amended complaint so that he has the option to proceed with an appeal. He remains focused on Lively’s case, which will be tried in March 2026.
Baldoni’s January countersuit — as well as his $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times — were initially tossed out in June.
At the time, Liman ruled that Baldoni, 41, and his co-plaintiffs “have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her [California Civil Rights Department] complaint, which are privileged.”
Lively first accused her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director of sexual harassment and retaliation in December 2024, going on to formally sue him later that month.
The New York Times was first to report on her claims.
Liman explained that Baldoni’s countersuit “alleged that Reynolds and [publicist Leslie] Sloane made additional statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that the Times made additional statements accusing the Wayfarer Parties of engaging in a smear campaign.”
However, Liman continued, “The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or the Times would have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law.”
Baldoni has continued to deny Lively’s allegations against him.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pagesix.com ’
