New Delhi:Blake Lively's sexual harassment case against Justin Baldoni, her co-star and director on "It Ends With Us," has hit a big snag. A judge has thrown out the claims made by the Hollywood actor, which is a big change in the case. On Thursday, Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of the 13 claims that Blake Lively had made in the case.
The claims that were thrown out included sexual harassment, defamation, conspiracy, and more. The actress, on the other hand, will have to go to court for three of her claims. The claims that were not thrown out were breach of contract, retaliation, and helping and abetting retaliation. The trial for the case will take place in New York on May 18.
Most of Blake Lively's claims are thrown out by the judge.
In 2024, Blake Lively sued Justin for harassment and a smear campaign against her while they were making their hit movie. Justin denied this and sued Blake back for what she said. Blake said that Justin, who is also the director and co-star, sexually harassed her while they were filming their movie by making comments about her weight and looks.
She also said that Justin hired a group of publicists to get back at her by spreading bad rumors about her online. The judge said that a jury would hear two of the retaliation cases.
Alexandria Shapiro and Jonathan Bach, who are lawyers for Justin, Wayfarer Studios, and their publicists, said, "We are happy that the Court threw out all of the sexual harassment claims and all of the claims against the individual defendants."
"We are thankful to the court for carefully looking at the facts, the law, and the large amount of evidence that was presented. These were very serious accusations." We are looking forward to presenting our defense in court for the remaining claims, which have been greatly narrowed down.
Variety says that Sigrid McCawley, a member of Blake's legal team, said that it would be up to the jury to decide if Blake was the victim of a smear campaign as a form of revenge.
Sigrid said, "This case has always been and will always be about the terrible retaliation and the extreme steps the defendants took to ruin Blake Lively's reputation because she stood up for safety on the set. This is the case that is going to trial." She also said, "She looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to find and fight."
More information about the Blake-Justin fight
The case is about what happened between Justin and Blake while they were filming It Ends With Us. Blake plays Lily Bloom, the main character in the movie. She is a young woman who grew up watching her mother abuse her father and ends up in a similar abusive relationship years later.
Blake's team has accused Justin and his film studio, Wayfarer, of planning to hurt her reputation by using social media to spread false information and getting friendly media members to help them tell their stories. Before going to court, Blake talked about the accusations in an article for the New York Times.
Justin's team, on the other hand, said that Blake was using her claims of wrongdoing to take over the movie and later make Justin look bad. The team also said that Blake's claims about Justin's behavior on set were just "minor complaints."
In February, Justin and Blake went to a mediation hearing with a magistrate judge, but they couldn't reach an agreement.
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