EXCLUSIVE: 'No Winners' in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Legal Spat After Nearly Two Year Battle, Ex-Federal Prosecutor Claims

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni had little choice but to put down their swords and find a way to get along, a top legal eagle tells RadarOnline.com.

The former It Ends with Us co-stars both agreed to walk away from their years-long legal battles, waving the white flag without exchanging any money.

With just two weeks to go before the trial was set to begin on May 18, Lively and Baldoni shockingly announced a truce on Monday, May 4, ending what would have been a likely long legal mess that could have exposed some tightly guarded Hollywood secrets.

Legal analysts tell Radar they are not surprised by the outcome.

"Even though they dislike one another, there was no reason to go to trial on the few claims that were left," said former federal prosecutor and current president of West Coast Trial Lawyers Neama Rahmani.

"The judge dismissed Baldoni's defamation claims on First Amendment and litigation privilege grounds. Then he dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claims because she was an independent contractor and not an employee. Those were the most serious causes of action."

After each side lost key components of their respective cases, there was little left to fight over.

"It's not worth going to trial and spending weeks and hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate the breach of contract and smear campaign claims alone," Rahmani continued. "There isn’t enough meat on the bone to make it worth the parties and the lawyers' time."

"This result was expected after the dismissals and will leave fans wondering what really happened between the two celebrities," added the legal expert.

As Radar reported, the writing seemed to be on the wall when a judge dismissed the bulk of Lively's claims in her lawsuit against her former co-star and director.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman's April 2 ruling tossed out 10 of 13 counts, including Lively's allegations of harassment, defamation and conspiracy.

The judge had a technical issue with the Gossip Girl alum's sexual harassment claims by ruling that she couldn't file them in federal court due to being an independent contractor. He added that her team erred in filing the claim in California when filming for It Ends With Us took place on the other side of the country in New Jersey.

The case was still set to go to trial on May 18, but only with the lesser claims of breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation.

For a while, it looked like the war would continue indefinitely. Lively and Baldoni attended a tense, court-ordered mediation in New York on February 11, but the high-stakes sit-down ended in a total deadlock, with no progress toward a resolution.

At the time, the actor/director's attorney, Bryan Freedman, said he believed the case was still headed to trial, stating on Baldoni's behalf, "We're looking forward to it."

In her original lawsuit, Lively accused Baldoni of acting inappropriately toward her on set and cast a number of their interactions as sexual harassment.

Baldoni hit back with a $400million lawsuit of his own in January 2025 that accused his former leading lady and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion, while also suing the New York Times for libel over its reporting on Lively’s allegations. The latter was dismissed in June 2025.