Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds to ask federal court to drop Justin Baldoni’s $400M suit amid legal battles
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on Thursday expressed their intention to ask a federal court to drop a lawsuit filed earlier this month by her It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni.
‘The Lively-Reynolds Parties intend to move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ complaint,’ an attorney for the Hollywood power couple, Michael Gottlieb, requested to Judge Lewis Liman in a letter, Variety reported Thursday after reviewing legal documents in the case.
The legal request comes as the first hearing in a spate of lawsuits between the collaborators on the summer hit is set to commence next week.
Dailymail.com has reached out to reps for Lively and Reynolds for further comment on this story.
Lively, 37, last month sued Baldoni, 41, amid claims of sexual harassment during production of the motion picture, which was a hit when it arrived in theaters in August.
In Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, the Gossip Girl alum accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her in multiple ways – including body shaming her.
Blake Lively, 37, and Ryan Reynolds, 48, on Thursday asked a federal court to drop a lawsuit filed earlier this month by her It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni, 41. Lively and Reynolds pictured at the NYC premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine in July
The legal request comes as the first hearing in a spate of lawsuits between the collaborators on the summer hit is set to commence next week. Baldoni pictured in NYC in August
Lively – who is mother to four kids with the Deadpool star Reynolds, 48 – filed an 80-page civil rights complaint with the California Civil Rights Department against Baldoni in late December, before officially filing a federal lawsuit against him on December 31.
Lively told The New York Times the day after she filed the complaint, ‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.’
Baldoni has denied all of the claims against him in Lively’s legal filing, and has sued the newspaper for $250 million in a defamation claim.
Earlier this month, he filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane, saying they concocted ‘false accusations of sexual harassment’ against him.
Since the complaint was filed, Baldoni has faced a number of professional consequences, including a lawsuit from a former publicist; and being dropped by the agency WME, which also reps Lively and Reynolds.
It Ends with Us, which also starred Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar and Kevin McKidd, arrived in theaters August 9 and was a hit with audiences.
The film, adapted from the 2016 Colleen Hoover novel, earned $148 million in domestic box office, and $350 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo.
