On Monday, the judge dismissed Justin Baldoni’s case against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Blake’s publicist. The judge also dismissed Baldoni’s defamation case against the New York Times. As I said, the dismissal of the NYT lawsuit was not that surprising. However, I was surprised by the judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit against Blake and Ryan. The most bizarre part about it is that Blake and her team acted like they won all of their legal challenges and nothing else was going to court – even with the dismissal, Blake’s lawsuit against Baldoni is proceeding and, before this dismissal, it did not appear that Blake’s case was holding up. Well, it took about 24 hours for Baldoni’s legal team to respond to the dismissal. Unsurprisingly, they’re basically saying it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.
Justin Baldoni’s attorney is breaking his silence after his $400 million countersuit against Blake Lively was dismissed by the judge. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE Tuesday, June 10, the It Ends With Us actor-director’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said Lively and her team’s “predictable declaration of victory is false.”
On June 9, Judge Lewis J. Liman granted motions to dismiss Baldoni’s countersuit against Lively, 37, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicist, which alleged extortion and defamation, as well as his $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times.
The judge noted that Baldoni’s legal team can still amend the claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract, with a deadline of June 23.
“While the Court dismissed the defamation related claims, the Court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations,” Freedman said in his statement. He added, “This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign, which Ms. Lively’s own team conveniently describes as ‘untraceable’ because they cannot prove what never happened.”
“Most importantly, Ms. Lively’s own claims are no truer today than they were yesterday, and with the facts on our side, we march forward with the same confidence that we had when Ms. Lively and her cohorts initiated this battle and look forward to her forthcoming deposition, which I will be taking,” Freedman added in his statement. “We are grateful for the organic show of support from the public and for the dedication of the internet sleuth community who continue to cover the case with discernment and integrity.”
I have the feeling that I’ll be dipping back out of this story in the coming weeks/months. I’m not going to cover it when both sides start leaking bullsh-t around Blake’s deposition. People Mag also published some analysis of the dismissals and the case moving forward. They spoke to a lawyer named Gregory Doll, who basically said much the same as Bryan Freedman, that there is still a lot of court proceedings left: “As all litigators know, sometimes you win everything at trial only to see your case reversed on appeal. The decision is undoubtedly a blow to Baldoni. But the case is far from over. One thing I’ve learned many times over as a litigator is not to celebrate too early.” Doll also said that in his opinion, this situation will most likely be settled out of court. I can only see a settlement happening if both Baldoni and Lively agree to a comprehensive NDA, and I just don’t believe that will ever happen.
Here are some photos of Blake at the Chanel Tribeca Festival dinner on Monday night.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
