A day after a federal judge threw out the majority of Blake Lively’s lawsuit against director Justin Baldoni, the actress’ legal team is swinging by, accusing Baldoni’s camp of what they call a hollow victory built on legal technicalities.
Blake Lively’s lawyers fire back as Baldoni’s side celebrates
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman on Thursday dismissed 10 of the 13 counts in Lively’s suit, leaving only three counts — retaliation, aiding and abetting and breach of contract — that will now go to trial. Notably, Baldoni is not a defendant in any of the remaining claims
Baldoni’s lead attorney, Bryan Freedman, was quick to call the decision a decisive victory for his client. However, Lively’s camp was just as quick to disagree.
Michael Gottlieb, one of Lively’s lawyers, told US entertainment outlet TMZ that he wasn’t surprised that Freedman was celebrating – although he didn’t try too hard to hide his disdain for the claim. Gottlieb aptly noted that Freedman “had to bring another law firm to the trial and was reprimanded by the court just last week for filing legally meritless claims.”
Gottlieb went further, arguing that the judge’s decision actually preserved what really mattered. He said the court reduced the case to its essential truth — that Lively “spoke out against what she believed to be sexual harassment on set and suffered retaliation that damaged her reputation as a result.”
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He added that the court found that Lively provided sufficient evidence that she was a victim of Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath’s actions on set and that Baldoni’s team “crossed the line in response and took actions that damaged her reputation and career.”
Those retaliation claims, Gottlieb said, are the “beating heart” of Lively’s case — and the very reason she filed suit.
The reason the harassment claims were denied had nothing to do with whether the alleged conduct occurred. Lively’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, confirmed this, saying, “Sexual harassment is not happening because the defendants did nothing wrong, but because the court determined that Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.”
Gottlieb’s statement put the matter in perspective: “The court’s ruling that Ms. Lively’s state and federal harassment claims could not go to trial involved questions of law, rather than an endorsement of the defendants’ conduct. The court ruled that Ms. Lively’s sexual harassment claims could not go to a jury because instead she was an independent employee and Ms. Lively did not sign a bargaining agreement. New Jersey instead of California The fact that Bryan Freedman is seeking immunity on legal technicalities while he stands trial next month tells you all you need to know.
For his part, Freedman offered his own version of events. “From day one of this case, when Justin and the other defendants were blindsided by these allegations, the legal team on the ground from the beginning worked extremely long days and nights to defend this case through transparency by releasing the actual true text messages and by welcoming and facilitating the release of all truth-revealing documents,” he said.
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The legal dispute traces its roots back to December 2024, when Lively first filed a complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation. She then filed a federal lawsuit on December 31 of that year.
In her complaint, Lively alleged that Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios orchestrated a criminal defamation campaign after she spoke out about the allegedly toxic work environment he created on the set of their 2024 film It Ends With Us. She claimed the campaign caused her roughly $161 million in losses.
Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and others for racketeering and defamation. A federal judge dismissed the suit.
Settlement talks between the two sides broke down in February and Freedman confirmed that attempts to reach a resolution had proved “unsuccessful”.
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The remaining claims are scheduled for trial on May 18, 2026 in the Southern District of New York. McCawley said Lively “looks forward to testifying in court and will continue to shine a light on this insidious form of online retaliation to make it easier to detect and combat.”
Despite the significant narrowing of the case, the defendants strongly denied any wrongdoing. Baldoni’s attorneys, Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach, said in a joint statement, “What remains is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense of the remaining claims at trial.”
For now, both sides insist they will prevail. The courtroom battle — which has drawn everyone from Taylor Swift to a former CIA official — shows no signs of letting up before it goes to the jury.
