Justin Baldoni asks judge to dismiss lawsuit against Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni is currently asking a judge to dismiss his lawsuit against Blake Lively as his legal battle continues.

In a summary judgment court motion obtained by PEOPLE (dated Nov. 13, filed just before the East Coast deadline), Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, It Ends with Us producer Jamie Heath, Steve Sarowitz, It Ends with Us Movies LLC, and The Agency Group PR. LCC, Crisis spokesperson Melissa Nathan, publicist Jennifer Abel, Texas-based social media consultant Jed Wallace, and Street Relations, Inc. asked U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Lehman to rule in their favor without proceeding to trial.

In a 73-page legal document filed the day after the notice of claim, the group listed reasons why Judge Lehman should throw out the case before it goes to court.

Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle began in December 2024, when Lively sued Lively for a smear campaign of misconduct and retaliation on the set of It Ends with Us, which Baldoni also directed.

Ms. Lively, 38, accused Ms. Baldoni, 42, and Wayfarer Studios of creating a hostile and discriminatory work environment, engaging in sexual harassment and orchestrating a campaign of retaliation, alleging in her lawsuit that voicing her concerns derailed her career. He denies all charges.

In a document obtained by PEOPLE, Mr. Baldoni’s lawyers wrote, “No reasonable juror would be able to find that, given the circumstances, the few comments and misconceptions collected by Mr. Lively amounted to sexual harassment,” adding elsewhere that “no reasonable juror could conceive that Mr. Lively was subject to an adverse employment action in the traditional sense.”

In her Dec. 21 filing, Ms. Lively described “extensive evidence of retaliation,” alleging that “negative content” about her was “amplified, amplified, perpetuated, planted, and otherwise manipulated” by Mr. Baldoni and the other defendants.

Mr. Baldoni and his team’s new lawsuit comes after a federal judge earlier this month dismissed Mr. Lively’s claims against Jed Wallace, a Texas-based social media consultant whom he had previously accused of helping defame Mr. Lively online. Despite the legal setback, all counterclaims against the Gossip Girl actress have been dismissed after Wallace was dismissed by the court on jurisdictional grounds this week.

In response to the news, a spokesperson for Lively told PEOPLE, “With this decision, all retaliation lawsuits brought against Blake Lively by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and their crisis management and digital teams are dismissed. Ms. Lively will have her day in court on her claims at a trial in New York in March.”

“Ms. Wallace is deeply disappointed in the court’s decision to have no jurisdiction over Ms. Lively, especially since Ms. Lively initially summoned a Texas court when she filed her complaint, and Ms. Wallace is considering an appeal,” Chip Babcock, Ms. Wallace’s attorney, told PEOPLE.

Last week, recently released court filings obtained by PEOPLE revealed that Lively is seeking more than $160 million in damages in connection with her ongoing lawsuit with Baldoni. The document was originally filed in July and made public on Wednesday, November 5th by court order.

The actress claimed to have suffered significant losses in past and future income from acting, speaking, producing and appearing.

This amount includes more than $56 million in lost profits and more than $71 million in lost business profits related to her business ventures, Betty Buzz, Betty Booze, and Blake Brown Beauty. In the court filing, Ms. Lively claims to have suffered $34 million in reputational damage based on an estimated 65 million negative impressions generated about her on social media. According to the filing, these numbers are preliminary and will be substantiated by expert testimony.

She also seeks punitive damages, attorney’s fees and compensation for emotional distress. The suit alleges that Lively suffered “pain and suffering, physical suffering, and humiliation” and seeks damages “in the range of $250,000 to $400,000.”

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The document also lists a wide range of potential witnesses, including a number of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman, and was filed after PEOPLE previously reported that Baldoni’s $400 million defamation countersuit against Lively was formally dismissed by a judge on Friday, October 31, after Baldoni’s lawyers chose not to file further amended complaints.

They had until June 23 to amend their claims for breach of implied contract and interference in tort.

Back in June, U.S. District Judge Louis J. Lehman dismissed a racketeering and defamation lawsuit brought by Baldoni and her production company Wayfarer Studios against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, 49, and her publicist, as well as Baldoni’s $250 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.