Justin Baldoni and his movie studio co-founder have filed a motion for a judge to throw out his multimillion dollar legal battle against Blake Lively.
In the lastest twist in the controversial case, which kicked off last year when Justin’s It Ends With Us co-star accused him of sexual harrassment, the actor, 41, has filed for her case to be thrown out as ‘no reasonable jury’ would find him guilty.
The star and his Wayfarer co-founder Steve Sarowitz’s latest filing urges judges to dismiss claims made by the actress’ attorneys that the total expenses associated with the bad publicity Justin subjected her led to a loss of $56.2 million in wages.
The total number comes from the multiple sources of income Lively has in the entertainment industry, including actress, producer, public speaker and pitch person, according to a disclosure filed in July and reviewed Thursday by Variety.
The legal team state in the new filing that ‘no reasonable jury’ would find him guilty, as accusations of lost earnings may ‘not be merely speculative, possible or imaginary’ as they ‘cannot be calculated with reasonable certainty’.Â
Justin Baldoni and his movie studio co-founder have filed a motion for a judge to throw out his multimillion dollar legal battle against Blake Lively
In the lastest twist in the controversial case, which kicked off last year when Justin’s It Ends With Us co-star accused him of sexual harrassment, the actor, 41, has filed for her case to be thrown out as ‘no reasonable jury’ would find him guilty
In December of last year, Blake named Justin in a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment, retaliatory conduct, and intentional infliction of emotional stress.
In her lawsuit, the actress accused Justin of sexually harassing her in multiple ways – including body shaming her – and orchestrating a smear campaign against her to damage her reputation, all of which have been staunchly denied.Â
In her lawsuit, Blake named a number of Justin’s collaborators, including his company Wayfarer Studios, Steve, the studio’s CEO and financial backer, and PR personnel Nathan and Abel.
Baldoni had initially asked for $250 million in damages from The New York Times, mentioning a report it published on the topic, then added it to the $400 million lawsuit he filed this past January.
In the suit, he named Blake, her spouse Ryan Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane, citing the aforementioned report in legal documents. It was thrown out of court this past June. All parties have denied all of the allegations against them.
In his latest bid, Justin has filed the new motion, with attorneys penning: ‘Several aspects of Lively’s damages must be dismissed’.Â
Listed as the claims seeking to be thrown out are: ‘Lively lacks standing to assert claims for lost profits or royaties’ and ‘Lively cannot recover specilsative lost profits’.
The star and his Wayfarer co-founder Steve Sarowitz’s latest filing urges judges to dismiss claims made by the actress’ attorneys that the total expenses associated with the bad publicity Justin subjected her led to a loss of $56.2 million
Shortly before the new documents were unveiled, Blake racked up a meaningful legal victory this week when a defamation suit filed against her by a digital strategist linked to Justin was thrown out of court.
She had been named in a lawsuit filed in Texas this past February by the public relations firm Street Relations Inc. and its owner, Jed Wallace.
The Gossip Girl star had named Wallace and his company in her legal complaint filed last December against Justin in connection the It Ends with Us.
A source close to Justin told Daily Mail of Wednesday’s ruling: ‘The two separate cases were each dismissed due to jurisdiction.
‘The difference is that Blake largely blamed Jed for the alleged smear campaign, but regardless of the reason behind the dismissal, Jed is no longer a part of the larger suit brought forth by Blake.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Lively for further comment on the story.
The duo are pictured in It Ends With UsÂ
A rep for Lively told TMZ that the latest development clears the path for the actress and her team to present a strong case when it arrives in court next spring.
‘With this decision, all of the retaliatory lawsuits filed against Blake Lively by Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and their crisis communications and digital teams have been dismissed,’ Lively’s rep told TMZ.
The rep added that ‘Ms. Lively will have her day in court on her claims at the March trial in New York.’
The ruling came about a week after a judge scuttled claims made by Lively that Wallace was a collaborator in the efforts to damage her reputation, via social media.
The presiding judge said that Lively’s legal team erroneously filed the case in New York City, as Wallace is based out of Austin, Texas.
The suit was formally dismissed as result of a lack of personal jurisdiction, as it was unclear if Texas was the proper venue (Justin and Blake are pictured in January last year)Â
The suit was formally dismissed as result of a lack of personal jurisdiction, as it was unclear if Texas was the proper venue.
A spokesperson for Lively told People November 5 that ‘the Court’s decision today was only about where Jed Wallace can be sued,’ noting that ‘the Court ruled that Ms. Lively’s claims against him can and should be brought in a different court.’
The spokesperson added that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star remained ‘evaluating her many options for doing so.’
The rep noted that the ruling had ‘no impact on [Lively’s] case against Baldoni, Heath, Sarowitz, Nathan, Abel, Wayfarer and The Agency Group, who she will see in court in New York at the March trial.’
