Justin Baldoni suffers huge loss as Blake Lively's team declares "total victory"
New York, New York - Justin Baldoni's countersuit against his It Ends With Us co-star, Blake Lively, has been tossed by a federal judge.
As reported by People on Monday, Judge Lewis J. Liman has dismissed the $400 lawsuit Baldoni filed against Lively after the Gossip Girl star accused him of sexual harassment last December.
The 41-year-old filmmaker had accused Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of extortion and defamation in the lawsuit, which was filed in January.The judge wrote that the targets of Baldoni's suit did not meet the criteria to be "liable for defamation under applicable law," thus leading to the dismissal.
Judge Liman also tossed Baldoni's lawsuit against the New York Times over their reporting on Lively's accusations that the Jane the Virgin actor sexually harassed her and subsequently hired a PR team to conduct a retalitory smear campaign.
Lively's lawyers hailed the dismissals in a statement to People, calling the decision a "total victory and a complete vindication" for the 37-year-old A Simple Favor star.
"As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it," the attorneys said.
The legal team also noted that they plan on seeking "attorneys' fees, treble damages, and punitive damages" from Baldoni and others on his side of the case over their participation in the "abusive litigation."
Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Everett Collection & Avalon.red