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Lively says Baldoni 'weaponizing' defamation case

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'It Ends With Us' co-stars allege competing smear

campaigns

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Baldoni's lawyers not immediately available for comment

(Recasts first paragraph; adds details from Lively court

filing, lawyers' comments, paragraphs 2-3, 11-15)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) -

Actress Blake Lively asked a U.S. judge on Thursday to

dismiss actor Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit,

calling it a "vengeful" attempt to weaponize the federal courts

after she accused him of sexual harassment.

In a filing in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for

Lively called Baldoni's lawsuit part of a "sinister campaign to

bury and destroy" Lively for speaking out about sexual

harassment and retaliation, including through her lawsuit

against him.

"The law prohibits weaponizing defamation lawsuits" such

as Baldoni's to deprive Lively of her right to speak out, her

lawyers added.

Lively is also seeking unspecified triple and punitive

damages for reputational and emotional harm that Baldoni, his

production company Wayfarer Studios, and other defendants

allegedly caused.

Lawyers for Baldoni did not immediately respond to

requests for comment. He and Lively have forcefully denied each

other's respective allegations.

The feud began publicly in December, when Lively accused

Baldoni of sexually harassing her while filming the 2024 movie

"It Ends With Us," in which Baldoni co-starred and directed, and

then trying to smear her reputation.

Litigation began when Lively filed a complaint with the

California Civil Rights Department, followed by her own lawsuit

in the Manhattan court.

Baldoni and Wayfarer countersued for the $400 million,

accusing Lively, her husband and actor Ryan Reynolds, their

publicist, the New York Times ( NYT ) and others of

orchestrating a smear campaign to extort him.

He accused Lively of trying to "hijack" the movie, whose

themes included domestic violence, and then blame him when her

"disastrous" promotional approach prompted an online backlash.

The Times was sued over its December 21, 2024 article

"'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine" about

Lively and Baldoni.

LIVELY SAYS NO 'ACTUAL MALICE'

In seeking a dismissal, Lively's lawyers said applicable

California law barred lawsuits such as Baldoni's based on public

discussion of sexual harassment, including in the press.

They said Lively had a "genuine, good faith belief that

she was mistreated," and Baldoni failed to show she acted with

actual malice, meaning she knew her accusations were false or

had reckless disregard of their falsity.

The alleged falsehoods "center on hair-splitting Ms.

Lively's recounting of specific incidents within her legal

complaints or, worse, attempt to justify the Wayfarer parties'

behavior - essentially asserting that Ms. Lively 'asked for

it,'" the lawyers said.

Most damning, they added, were Baldoni's August 30, 2024

text messages calling Lively "the kind of person that genuinely

believes she's right and that all of this is unjust," to which a

publicist replied, "She fully does. I know it."

In a joint statement, Lively's lawyers Michael Gottlieb

and Esra Hudson called Baldoni's lawsuit "a profound abuse of

the legal process," and said its "attempt to sue Ms. Lively

'into oblivion' has only created more liability" for him.

A March 2026 trial is scheduled.

Reynolds is also seeking a dismissal from Baldoni's lawsuit,

saying it reflected "hurt feelings" based on the two times he

allegedly called Baldoni a "predator."

He also said he "genuinely, perhaps passionately, believes"

Baldoni's behavior reflects that of a predator, and that using

the word is constitutionally protected opinion.

The Times, meanwhile, has said its article about Lively and

Baldoni was merely journalism, and that it was not helping

Lively extract revenge.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan, who oversees

both lawsuits, has signaled Baldoni is likely to lose his case

against the Times.

"It Ends With Us" garnered mixed reviews, but grossed more

than $351 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo.