Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni legal drama escalates over 'emotional distress' claims
The ongoing legal dispute between "It Ends With Us" co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni escalated Tuesday over Lively's decision to withdraw claims of emotional distress from her lawsuit.
Lively will not be able to present evidence or make any claims of emotional distress -- claims included in the lawsuit she originally filed against Baldoni in late December -- when the case goes to trial next year, according to a ruling issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman.
Liman also ruled that Lively does not have to provide her medical records to the court following the withdrawal of the claims of emotional distress.
The judge left it up to Baldoni's and Lively's legal teams to sort out whether Lively can refile the emotional distress claims later on.
"The parties shall stipulate to whether the dismissal is with or without prejudice, or Lively shall renew her request by formal motion," Liman wrote in his ruling. "For avoidance of doubt, if the claims are not dismissed, the Court will preclude Lively from offering any evidence of emotional distress."
In her original lawsuit, Lively claimed she experienced "severe emotional distress" after Baldoni and key stakeholders in "It Ends With Us" allegedly sexually harassed her and allegedly attempted, along with Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer Studios, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Lively's attorneys say she voluntarily agreed to withdraw her infliction of emotional distress claims on May 30. In a letter to the judge, her lawyers stated Lively did so in good faith to streamline the dispute in the ordinary litigation process given the damages she otherwise anticipates recovering.
A few days later, on June 2, lawyers for Baldoni and Wayfarer filed a motion to compel Lively to provide her medical and mental health care records, in order to prove she experienced distress, according to court filings seen by ABC News. Baldoni's lawyers asked for the emotional distress claims to be dismissed with prejudice so they cannot be refiled at a later time.
"By alleging that she suffered physical and emotional injuries, Ms. Lively has placed her physical and mental condition at issue and, in turn, must produce relevant information and documents," the court filings state.
Lively's legal team responded the same day with a letter to the judge asking for the motion to be dropped, calling it a "public relations stunt."
Lively's lawyers, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, told ABC News in a statement June 3, after the judge's ruling, that the actress will, "continue to pursue emotional distress damages through other claims in her lawsuit."
“The court denied Wayfarer’s motion. He told the parties to continue their discussions about the technicalities of how 2 of the 15 claims will be voluntarily dismissed. Ms. Lively has offered to dismiss those claims because they are no longer necessary, and she will continue to pursue emotional distress damages through other claims in her lawsuit, including sexual harassment and retaliation," Hudson and Gottlieb said. "In addition, the Baldoni-Wayfarer strategy of filing retaliatory claims has exposed them to expansive damages under California law. This is exactly where both parties were before the Baldoni-Wayfarer Parties rushed to file this utterly pointless motion to compel, all searching for yet another press moment.”
Baldoni's legal team had no additional comment on the judge's ruling when reached by ABC News.
Lively and Baldoni's legal feud began after Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department in December, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of "It Ends With Us," which he also directed.
Baldoni denied the allegations at the time in a statement issued through his attorney Bryan Freedman, who called Lively's actions "shameful" and the allegations "serious and categorically false."
Freedman claimed that Lively's complaint was "another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film."
Lively and Baldoni subsequently launched dueling lawsuits against each other, with Lively's lawsuit reiterating the allegations outlined in her earlier California Civil Rights Department complaint.
Baldoni filed a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the couple's publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane's public relations company Vision PR in January this year, alleging, among other things, extortion and defamation.
Baldoni accused Lively of having "robbed" him and Wayfarer Studios LLC of control of "It Ends with Us," which he also directed, as well as destroying Baldoni's "personal and professional reputations and livelihood." He accused Sloane of having gone "so far as to propagate malicious stories portraying Baldoni as a sexual predator" and Reynolds of using the term to describe Baldoni in a call with Baldoni's agent. The suit claims Reynolds told Baldoni's rep to "drop" him as a client.
Lively's lawyers responded with a statement calling the lawsuit "another chapter in the abuser playbook."
Lively and Baldoni are due to appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 9, 2026, with Judge Lewis Liman overseeing the case.
Ahead of their court date, Lively filed an amended version of her lawsuit against Baldoni in February.
In March, Reynolds filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's complaint against him. Lively also filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's countersuit against her.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with further clarification on Judge Liman's June 3 ruling.
