Justin Baldoni has filed a response to Blake Lively’s motion to dismiss his $400 million lawsuit against her.
Baldoni sued Lively for defamation and other claims on Jan. 16, about a month after Lively filed a lawsuit that accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and orchestrating a retaliatory smear campaign over their behind-the-scenes fallout while filming It Ends with Us. The movie, which was released in theaters on Aug. 9, 2024, starred Lively and Baldoni, who also directed. The actor’s lawsuit also named Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Lively’s lawyers, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, filed the motion to dismiss on March 20, calling Baldoni’s claims “vengeful and rambling” and an abuse of the legal system. Specifically, they said the newly enacted California Civil Code Section 47.1 prohibits retaliatory lawsuits tied to public disclosures of sexual harassment.
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, responded to the motion in the Southern District of New York on Thursday, April 3, per court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Freedman states that Lively requested to dismiss the lawsuit for “failure to state a claim.” She also asked for attorneys’ fees, costs, damages and punitive damages.
However, Freedman says Baldoni’s complaint provides details of “Lively’s calculated efforts first to extort and manipulate” Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production team, “into ceding total control over the film It Ends with Us and then to defame and scapegoat them when her plan backfired.”
They add that Baldoni’s complaint provides specific claims of defamation against Lively that are “sufficient to defeat dismissal.” Baldoni’s attorney also claims that, even if a dismissal is granted, Lively is not owed attorneys’ fees and damages.
The response alleges Blake’s attempt to dismiss Baldoni’s lawsuit is her way of asking the court “to find that she is immune from any culpability for her wrongful acts.”
Addressing California Civil Code Section 47.1, Freedman says enforcing it would require the court to determine “that she acted alone and without malice and that she had a reasonable basis for her claims.”
“Ms. Lively and her circle of Hollywood elites cannot prevent my clients from exercising their constitutional right to petition the court to clear their names from her false and harmful claims,” Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman tells PEOPLE in a statement on Thursday.
He added of Lively’s motion to dismiss: “What Ms. Lively is attempting to do is to set a dangerous precedent by barring the courthouse doors to my clients and punishing them for having their day in court, a right protected by the First Amendment.”
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“This right protects not only Mr. Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties in this particular case, but all Americans in the future who have false accusations levied against them and seek relief from our justice system,” Freedman continues. “This must stop here, and we will continue to fight against this blatant attempt to block access to the court system and to weaken our nation’s Constitution to serve those who are in the position of power.”
PEOPLE reached out to Lively’s representatives for comment on Thursday.
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