Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation suit against Blake Lively dismissed
A federal judge has dismissed actor Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit against actor Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and the New York Times.
Baldoni directed the 2024 movie It Ends With Us, which he co-starred in with Lively. The movie is based on a popular novel by Colleen Hoover. A few months after the movie was released, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, the movie’s production company which Baldoni co-founded, alleging she was sexually harassed during the making of the movie.
The legal complaint coincided with an article in the New York Times detailing the public relations/crisis management machine working on behalf of Baldoni.
In response, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, alleging defamation and extortion.
Wayfarer Studios also originally sued the New York Times in a separate $250 million libel lawsuit. That suit was dismissed after the Times was added as a defendant in the $400 million defamation suit.
In an opinion issued Monday, Judge Lewis J. Liman stated Baldoni failed to show that actual malice was involved in Lively’s allegations.
As for the Times, the judge wrote, “The alleged facts indicate that the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatized manner, what it believed to have happened.”
“Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively,” read a statement from Lively’s lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb. “This ‘$400 million’ lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it.”
NPR has reached out to the legal team representing Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios.
In an emotional hearing, Texas lawmakers hear from flood survivors, local officials
The Texas Legislature is in a special session and discussing proposals to improve disaster preparedness after floods killed more than 130 people early this month.
The manhunt for Eric Rudolph was the largest in US history: How it began. How it finally ended
Eric Rudolph planted a bomb in 1998 at a Birmingham clinic that performed abortions. A new podcast explores the massive manhunt assembled to find him, and how his words and actions are possibly more accepted now, than they were then.
Trump’s dream of building a ballroom at the White House is becoming a reality
After at least 15 years of talking about it, President Trump is building a ballroom at the White House. Work will begin this September, with a price tag of $200 million, the White House says.
An MMA fighter Trump hosted at the White House loses appeal in his rape case
Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor used to be the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. President Trump, a UFC fan, hosted him at the White House for St. Patrick's Day this year.
What Leikeli47 hid behind her mask
On the heels of her new, independent album, Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only, the artist speaks candidly about the mask that once gave her freedom and the fight for creative autonomy.
In reversal, Defense Department will continue providing crucial satellite weather data
About a month after announcing that it would stop sharing data that hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on, the Navy now says it will continue distributing it.
