Justin Baldoni’s lawsuits against Blake Lively & the NYT were both dismissed

Back in January, it took Justin Baldoni several weeks to file any kind of response to Blake Lively’s civil rights complaint and lawsuit. On January 16th, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Blake, Ryan Reynolds, Blake’s publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s PR firm. Separately, and weeks earlier, Baldoni and his publicists sued the New York Times for defamation for their exclusive reporting, reporting entirely based on Blake and Leslie Sloane’s narratives. In the past three months or so, we’ve seen an enormous amount of public jockeying and narrative-building from both sides, as well as a slew of pre-trial legal filings. Well, something shocking has happened. Judge Lewis Liman has thrown out both of Baldoni’s lawsuits – the lawsuit against Blake & Ryan, and the lawsuit against the New York Times.

In a major setback for Justin Baldoni, the It Ends With Us director-star’s countersuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and their publicist, as well as his lawsuit against The New York Times, have been tossed out by the judge.

On Monday, June 9, Judge Lewis J. Liman granted the motion to dismiss the $400 million lawsuit filed by Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties against Lively and Reynolds, which alleged extortion and defamation, as well as the $250 million defamation lawsuit against the Times.

The judge noted, though, that Baldoni’s legal team can still amend the claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract if they choose to, with a deadline of June 23.

“The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her CRD complaint, which are privileged,” Judge Liman wrote in the opinion and order filing viewed by PEOPLE. “The Wayfarer Parties have 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. But 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.”

The judge added, “The Wayfarer Parties’ additional claims also fail. Accordingly, the Amended Complaint must be dismissed in its entirety.”

Attorneys for Baldoni did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Lively’s lawyers Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb call the decision a “total victory and a complete vindication” for the actress and the others whom “Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times. As we have said from day one, this ‘$400 million’ lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it,” they say in the statement, adding that “we look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages” from the Wayfarer parties who they say “perpetrated this abusive litigation.”

[From People]

If I’m being honest, I can understand how Baldoni’s lawsuit against the NYT was tossed out. It wasn’t straight-forward defamation, it was just slanted, biased reporting from the NYT. Do I still think that there were issues which could have been adjudicated at trial? For sure. Same with Baldoni’s case against Blake, Ryan, et al. You can nitpick Baldoni’s case (just as you can nitpick Blake’s case against Baldoni), but it’s wild to say that none of Baldoni’s case should go to trial.

In the wake of these dismissals, People Magazine exclusively reported that Blake “cried with relief.” A source told People: “She’s obviously relieved. They both are. She feels vindicated. Everyone is happy.” Blake also posted a statement on her IG Stories (I’m including it below). She said, in part: “Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us. While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Cover Images, Blake’s IG.