Justin Baldoni Loses Legal War With Blake Lively, Lawsuits Dismissed
Justin Baldoni Loses Legal War With Blake ... His Lawsuits Are Dismissed
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6/10 8:00 AM PT -- In an earlier version ... TMZ inaccurately reported that Justin Baldoni's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Blake Lively's claims in her lawsuit.
Justin Baldoni just lost BIG in his legal war with Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and The New York Times ... because all of his claims against them have been dismissed.
A judge threw out the lawsuits filed by Baldoni and his Wayfair production company Monday, according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, dealing a huge blow to the Baldoni camp.
As you know ... Justin and Wayfarer were suing Blake and Ryan for $400 million and the New York Times for $250 million, alleging defamation over an article about all the drama on the "It Ends With Us" movie set ... a story Baldoni alleged was a part of a smear campaign against him.
Blake's claims against Justin are still intact.
The judge based his opinion on the finding that Lively had included her allegations in a civil rights complaint and therefore she could not be held liable for the claims ... and the NYT fairly relied upon that complaint as the basis of their story.
Baldoni had said the Times cherrypicked certain text messages and emails to frame him as the bad guy, but the court said the Times' reporting closely tracked Blake's version of events in her complaint.
The judge ruled, "the Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatized manner, what it believed to have happened. The Times had no obvious motive to favor Lively's version of events."
As for Reynolds, you'll recall Baldoni accused Reynolds of falsely labeling Baldoni a "sexual predator," but the judge found that this statement was also consistent with Blake's allegations in her complaint ... and Reynolds had no reason to believe they were untrue. Therefore, the judge said that comment couldn't form the basis of a defamation claim.
Blake's lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, tell TMZ ... “Today's opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that 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."
We reached out to Baldoni's legal team, who had no comment.
In a statement to TMZ, a spokesperson for The New York Times said ... "We are grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit against The New York Times for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting. Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism. We will continue to stand up in court for our journalism and for our journalists when their work comes under attack."
