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Blake Lively is filing to dismiss the massive lawsuit that Justin Baldoni filed against her.
Just as Ryan Reynolds hit back at Baldoni, his wife is also hoping that the court can nip this $400 million battle in the bud.
However, Lively’s filing takes a different angle than her husband’s.
Her legal team argues that because Baldoni is suing her for revenge, the malicious intention makes the lawsuit illegal.
Why does Blake Lively argue that Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit should be dismissed?
TMZ reports that on Thursday, March 20, Blake Lively filed a motion to dismiss Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit against her.
She notes that Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against her, her husband, and her publicist came after she alleged that he had sexually harassed her during the making of It Ends With Us.
Additionally, Lively’s filing points to the smear campaign that hounded her for months in late 2024 following her reporting his alleged misconduct to the studio.
How does this make his lawsuit (potentially) illegal?
Blake Lively’s legal team points out that California law against retaliatory lawsuits bars Justin Baldoni from, well, filing this kind of retaliatory lawsuit.
It will be up to the court to determine whether this law applies to this particular legal struggle.
Justin Baldoni is only making his case worse, Blake Lively’s legal team argues
Blake Lively’s attorneys say that Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, his company, have “created more liability for themselves.”
According to the legal filing, they have done so “by their malicious efforts to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion.’”
Lively’s team is asking the court to have Baldoni pay her legal fees alongside substantial financial damages for having filed the suit in the first place.
Within the filing, Blake Lively and her attorneys also hit back at Justin Baldoni’s narrative that she and Ryan Reynolds are bullying him using their status as Hollywood A-listers.
The document states that Baldoni, who directed It Ends With Us under the auspices of his company producing the film (in which he also starred opposite Lively), is the bully in this scenario.
Why? Because the lawsuit is “designed to further [Baldoni’s] sinister campaign to ‘bury’ and ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively for speaking out about sexual harassment and retaliation.”
Will the court grand the motion to dismiss?
It is unclear whether Blake Lively or Ryan Reynolds’ motions to dismiss against Justin Baldoni will be successful.
The judge will want to take time to review the law itself and case law.
There could also be multiple hearings on the topic, in which both sides will argue whether or not the California law against retaliatory lawsuits applies to this particular retaliatory lawsuit.
It would be nice for many of those involved if this miserable nightmare could come to an end. As things stand, the legal standoff could continue for over a year.