Overview
- Judge Lewis Liman on Thursday dismissed 10 of Blake Lively’s 13 claims against Justin Baldoni, including sexual harassment, defamation, and conspiracy.
- The court let three counts proceed to a jury—breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting retaliation—which center on alleged coordinated online and PR efforts to damage Lively’s reputation.
- Recent settlement talks produced no deal, and the case is scheduled for trial on May 18 in federal court in Manhattan.
- Lively publicly welcomed the ruling as preserving the “heart” of her case and said she plans to testify, while Baldoni’s team said they were very pleased the court threw out all harassment claims and all claims against individual defendants.
- The judge noted some allegations were far from baseless yet found Lively was an independent contractor and that conduct on a New Jersey set limited California law claims, setting up a trial likely to test how crisis communications can cross into unlawful retaliation.