The It Ends With Us lawsuit was a pair of dueling cases filed at the end of 2024: Blake Lively sued her costar and director Justin Baldoni, his studio Wayfarer, and its crisis PR team for sexual harassment and retaliation, and Baldoni countersued Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist for $400 million alleging defamation and civil extortion. A federal judge dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit in June 2025, dismissed most of Lively’s claims (including all harassment counts) in April 2026, and the parties settled the remainder in May 2026, with the court later ordering Baldoni’s side to pay Lively’s attorneys’ fees.
What Blake Lively Alleged Happened on Set
Filming on It Ends With Us, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel and produced by Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios for Sony, began in May 2023. In court filings, Lively alleged Baldoni was “consistently inappropriate” on set, saying he kissed, nuzzled, and touched her without consent and improvised physical intimacy beyond the script, including during a slow-dance sequence.1NBC News. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Lawsuit Judge Dismisses Some Claims She also alleged that Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath entered her hair and makeup trailer on May 16, 2023, while she was topless, an incident Baldoni’s side called “blatantly false.”2The Hollywood Reporter. Timeline Justin Baldoni Blake Lively It Ends With Us Legal Battle
Lively said she tried to file an HR complaint through Sony in May 2023 and was told Sony had no authority over Wayfarer personnel. She claimed Wayfarer had no employee handbook, no sexual harassment policy, and no complaint process.3Deadline. Blake Lively CCRD Filing
Production paused for the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes. Before it resumed, an “all hands” meeting on January 4, 2024, brought together Lively, Baldoni, Reynolds, Heath, and other stakeholders. The resulting Contract Rider Agreement, signed by Heath for Wayfarer’s film LLC, required a full-time intimacy coordinator, an outside producer, additional on-set safeguards, and a commitment not to retaliate against Lively. It became the foundation for one of the claims that would ultimately survive.4The New York Times. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni It Ends With Us
The Alleged Smear Campaign
The most consequential piece of Lively’s case was not what happened on set but what she said happened afterward. According to her complaint and subpoenaed internal communications, Baldoni and Heath retained crisis communications specialist Melissa Nathan in the summer of 2024. Nathan allegedly proposed a four-month “social combat plan” costing $175,000 that involved seeding “threads of theories” on Reddit and TikTok, coordinating “social fan engagement,” and resurfacing old Lively controversies. Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel worked with Nathan, and a “fixer” named Jed Wallace, who runs a firm called Street Relations, was described in the complaint as running a “digital army” against Lively.5Variety. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Crisis PR Harassment
Leaked texts became the case’s most quoted evidence. A publicist told Nathan that Baldoni “wants to feel like she can be buried.” Nathan replied: “You know we can bury anyone.” After the campaign launched, Abel called it “a total success,” and Nathan wrote: “Narrative is CRAZY good… Weve confused people So much mixed messaging.”4The New York Times. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni It Ends With Us Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman called the allegations “cherry-picked” and Nathan’s work “standard scenario planning.” Abel later told a private PR forum the team never implemented the plan, saying “the internet was doing the work for us.”5Variety. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Crisis PR Harassment
Who Sued Whom, and When
On December 20, 2024, Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint with the California Civil Rights Department.6Vogue. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Accusations It Ends With Us Eleven days later, on December 31, 2024, she filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 1:24-cv-10049-LJL) against Baldoni, Wayfarer, Heath, financier Steve Sarowitz, the film’s production LLC, Nathan, and Abel. Her claims included sexual harassment, retaliation, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of contract, and civil conspiracy. She said the retaliation campaign cost her $161 million.1NBC News. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Lawsuit Judge Dismisses Some Claims
That same day, Baldoni sued The New York Times for libel over its December 2024 article “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”7Courthouse News. NY Times Sues Baldonis Production Company to Recoup Costs of Tossed Defamation Suit
Then, on January 16, 2025, Baldoni and Wayfarer countersued Lively, Ryan Reynolds, publicist Leslie Sloane, and her firm Vision PR for $400 million, alleging civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy. Baldoni’s side claimed Lively “stole the film” by threatening to withhold promotion and attack Baldoni publicly unless she was given control over the final cut. The countersuit accused Reynolds of secretly rewriting a scene, calling Baldoni a “sexual predator” to a talent agency executive, and mocking him through the “Nicepool” character in Deadpool & Wolverine.8ABC News. Justin Baldonis 400M Countersuit Blake Lively Ended Judge
Lively’s amended complaint alleged that Sarowitz, Wayfarer’s billionaire co-founder, had told a witness he would “protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas” and that “there will be two dead bodies when I’m done.” It said Sarowitz did not deny telling a third party he was “prepared to spend $100 million to ruin the lives of Ms. Lively and her family.”9The Hollywood Reporter. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Feud Amended Lawsuit Actresses Testify
How the Court Ruled
U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman issued three rulings that shaped the case.
The $400 Million Countersuit Dismissed
In June 2025, Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit against Lively, Reynolds, and Sloane. He ruled the alleged actions did not amount to “civil extortion under California law” and were instead “legally permissible hard bargaining.” Baldoni’s defamation claims failed because the statements at issue appeared in Lively’s own lawsuit and were therefore privileged.10BBC News. Judge Ends Justin Baldoni Countersuit Blake Lively The judge gave Baldoni leave to amend certain claims by late June 2025. When no amended complaint was filed by the deadline, final judgment was entered.8ABC News. Justin Baldonis 400M Countersuit Blake Lively Ended Judge
Jed Wallace Dismissed for Lack of Jurisdiction
In July 2025, Judge Liman dismissed Lively’s claims against Wallace and Street Relations for lack of personal jurisdiction, ruling the alleged publicity campaign “largely took place outside of New York.” The dismissal was without prejudice. Wallace then filed his own defamation suit against Lively in Texas.11Variety. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Social Media Guru Jed Wallace Dismissed
Most of Lively’s Claims Dismissed
On April 2, 2026, in the ruling that reshaped what remained, Judge Liman dismissed 10 of Lively’s 13 claims, including all of her sexual harassment causes of action. His central reason: Lively was an independent contractor rather than an employee, which disqualified her from bringing harassment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. Analyzing the specific alleged conduct, he found it was “not so far beyond what might reasonably be expected to take place between two characters during a slow dancing scene,” writing that “creative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment.”12PBS NewsHour. Judge Tosses Out Blake Livelys Sexual Harassment Claims Against Costar Justin Baldoni
Three claims survived, all directed at corporate entities rather than at Baldoni personally: retaliation under California law against Wayfarer Studios and the film’s LLC, aiding and abetting retaliation against the PR firm The Agency Group, and breach of the Contract Rider Agreement against the film’s LLC.13U.S. District Court, SDNY. Blake Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC, Opinion and Order
The Settlement and Legal Fees
Trial on the surviving claims was set for May 18, 2026. On May 4, 2026, the parties settled instead. Their joint statement said: “We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.”14USA Today. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Settlement Agreement Revealed
The agreement ended all litigation between the parties and included a mutual waiver of appellate rights. Financial terms were not disclosed.15CNN. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Settlement
One question survived the settlement: attorneys’ fees. On June 12, 2026, Judge Liman ordered Baldoni and Wayfarer to pay Lively’s legal fees under a 2023 California law designed to prevent defamation suits from being used to intimidate people who report sexual misconduct. The final amount had not been set as of late June 2026, though Lively’s lawyers sought more than $8 million.16The New York Times. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Legal Fees
Related Cases Still Open
The main lawsuit is over, but two related actions were still active on the last available reporting. Wallace’s Texas defamation suit against Lively remained pending after his dismissal from the New York case.11Variety. Blake Lively Justin Baldoni Social Media Guru Jed Wallace Dismissed
Separately, The New York Times sued Wayfarer Studios in New York Supreme Court on September 30, 2025, seeking to recover at least $150,000 in legal costs from defending Baldoni’s dismissed libel suit. The newspaper invoked New York’s anti-SLAPP law, arguing Wayfarer’s original suit was a meritless attempt to chill protected speech.7Courthouse News. NY Times Sues Baldonis Production Company to Recoup Costs of Tossed Defamation Suit Freedman’s response on Baldoni’s behalf: “Win, lose, or draw, we refuse to cave to power brokers even in the face of seemingly impossible odds.”17New York Post. NY Times Sues Justin Baldonis Film Company for Legal Costs in 400M Defamation Case That case remained pending.