Blake Lively‘s legal team filed a motion early Thursday calling for the court to reject Justin Baldoni’s move to dismiss her lawsuit against him and his Wayfarer Studios, demanding that the case “proceed to trial.”
In November, Baldoni and his legal team filed a motion asking the court to toss out Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit, calling the actress’ case a “litany of minor grievances” that did not prove that he and his production company actually created an “objectively hostile” environment on the set of “It Ends With Us.”
That move came five months after Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s defamation case against Lively in June. Baldoni was given the chance to file an amended complaint after the judge’s decision, but he missed his deadline to do so, which resulted in the complete and full dismissal of his case.
Now, Lively’s legal team argues Baldoni is attempting to “avoid accountability” for his actions by trying to have her case thrown out as well.
“In their latest effort to avoid accountability for the hostile environment they created during the production and marketing of ‘It Ends With Us,’ Justin Baldoni, [Wayfarer Studios CEO] Jamey Heath, [Wayfarer Studios co-founder] Steve Sarowitz, and their co-defendants ask this Court to shield them from trial, and deny Blake Lively her day in court, by throwing the kitchen sink at Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation claims,” the motion insists.
Lively’s legal team not only maintains her accusations of sexual harassment, hostile work conditions and an orchestrated smear campaign, but also says that Baldoni and co.’s “scattershot theories collapse under the weight of the overwhelming evidence, in documents and testimony from witness after witness.”
“This is not, as Defendants claim, a story of minor annoyances fueled by creative differences, but instead one of a toxic environment,” the heavily-redacted, 72-page motion states. “Defendants created a hostile environment, and when confronted with complaints, they abandoned Wayfarer’s policies by refusing to investigate the concerns.”
When Baldoni and his Wayfarer colleagues were faced with Lively’s complaints about their behavior on the set of “It Ends With Us,” they did not allegedly respond by trying to “clear their names” with an official investigation. Instead, Lively’s lawers insist they “went on the attack, claiming that they are victims of a ‘bully’ who ‘fabricated’ complaints to ‘take over the movie.’”
“The Defendants’ litigation strategy has parroted their inversion of victim and offender,” the documents continue. “They purposely, repeatedly, surreptitiously, and directly, attacked Lively’s character and reputation.”
“Defendants’ campaign to transform Lively—a mother of four with decades of experience in the industry who simply sought a safe and respectful workplace—into a ‘bully’ who ‘took over’ Baldoni’s Film is not a defense to harassment, retaliation, defamation, or any claim Lively has advanced,” Lively’s legal team adds. The actress’ lawyers maintain that Baldoni and co. used their executive and artistic control over “It Ends With Us” to create a lopsided, toxic environment.
“Lively may be a movie star, but on the set of the Film, Heath and Baldoni were her bosses with a total consolidation of power,” the Thursday motion argues. “They set her schedule and her salary, appeared on and managed the set every day, were responsible for receiving and addressing HR concerns, and had the power to exert influence over Lively’s working conditions. Heath and Baldoni also leveraged their close friendship to ‘act with a certain degree of impunity’ and cover the other’s misdeeds.”
Lively’s latest legal move comes nearly a year after she originally filed her sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Baldoni in Dec. 2024. If the judge accepts her Thursday motion and thus denies Baldoni’s call for her case to be dismissed, then Lively’s suit will likely continue to its trial phase. A March 2026 window has already been set for the trial to begin.
