Justin Baldoni
Final Judgment Entered Dismissing His Blake Suit …
But She’s Not Done With Him!!!
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Updated
Justin Baldoni isn’t seeking to restart his lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and the New York Times — for now at least — because the deadline to amend that suit has passed, and the final judgment dismissing the case is now official.
According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the final judgment in the case has just been entered and all of Justin’s claims against Blake, Ryan and the NYT have been thrown out of court.
TMZ.com
The ruling first came down in June and Justin could have appealed … but a deadline came and went without him putting up a fight.
Blake’s claims against Justin are still intact … and she wants him to pay her attorneys’ fees for defending against his claims.
As you know … Justin and his Wayfarer Studios production company were suing Blake and Ryan for $400 million and the New York Times for $250 million, alleging defamation over an article about all the drama on the “It Ends With Us” movie set … a story Justin alleged was a part of a smear campaign against him.
TMZ.com
The judge based his opinion on the finding that Blake had included her allegations in a civil rights complaint and therefore she could not be held liable for the claims … and the NYT fairly relied upon that complaint as the basis of their story.
Justin had said the NYT cherrypicked certain text messages and emails to frame him as the bad guy … but the court said the Times’ reporting closely tracked Blake’s version of events in her complaint.
As for Ryan, you’ll recall Justin accused Ryan of falsely labeling Justin a “sexual predator,” but the judge found that this statement was also consistent with Blake’s allegations in her complaint … and Ryan had no reason to believe they were untrue. Therefore, the judge said the comment couldn’t form the basis of a defamation claim.
We reached out to legal teams for Justin, Blake and the Times … so far, no word back.
Correction: A previous version of this post stated Baldoni had “missed the deadline to appeal.” In fact, he did not miss that deadline, but he can no longer refile his claims against Blake, Ryan and the NYT. However, once the judge makes a ruling on Blake’s request for Justin to pay her attorneys fees, Justin could still appeal to reverse the dismissal of his case.