Justin Baldoni Wins Big: Blake Lively's Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against 'It Ends With Us' Director Dismissed by Judge

In a stunning turn of events, a judge dismissed the bulk of Blake Lively's claims in her lawsuit against former It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman's April 2 ruling tossed out 10 of 13 claims, including Lively's allegations of harassment, defamation, and conspiracy. The case will continue to trial on May 18, but only with the lesser claims of breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting in retaliation.

Lively filed the civil suit in December 2024 with her long list of grievances. Baldoni countersued the following month, but his case was dismissed in October 2025.

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.

Liman ruled that a jury will still get to hear Lively's retaliation claims that Baldoni allegedly hired a team of publicists to plant negative stories about her after their doomed collaboration on the film.

Following the ruling, Baldoni's attorneys, Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach, told the Daily Mail: "We’re very pleased the Court dismissed all sexual harassment claims...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."

One of Lively's lawyers, Sigrid McCawley, stated to the outlet, "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."

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 towards her on set and cast a number of their interactions as sexual harassment. She shared many of the allegations in a New York Times exposé published days before her December 31, 2024, federal court filing.

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.

The messy legal battle has caused significant damage to both Lively and Baldoni's reputations and dragged some of her famous, and now former, friends, such as Taylor Swift, into the war.

He alleged that the A Simple Favor star rewrote key scenes and enlisted the pop superstar's help to coerce Baldoni into using Lively's version. Swift denied any involvement in the film other than lending her song, My Tears Ricochet, for a key scene.

The Jane the Virgin star also claimed Lively used her Hollywood power to direct and edit a competing version of the film, and that her final cut was what theatergoers saw.

Both Lively and Baldoni have seen their professional demand plummet over the very public and incredibly ugly legal war.

She has appeared in just one film, 2025’s Another Simple Favor, which began production in March 2024, five months before It Ends With Us premiered, amid the ongoing legal battle.

Baldoni has not acted in any projects since the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's hit novel. His only other work was directing the documentary, Laughing at My Nightmare, which is currently in post-production. However, Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios still hold the rights to the sequel novel, It Starts With Us.